U.S. Senator Jerry Moran joined U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin this week in introducing a bipartisan reform to protect veterans from potential identity theft. The Veterans’ Identity Theft Protection Act would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to stop using Social Security account numbers to identify individuals in all information sysgtems used by the VA. That would be applied to veterans with new claims for benefits within two years, and for all other veterans already in VA systems within five years.

The VA would still be allowed to use social secruity numbers if it needs to transfer information to or from another system outside the VA that requires the use of those identifiers.

According to a release from Senator Moran’s Office a news investigation revealed that the Social Security numbers of hundreds of veterans were sent to an unauthorized person last year. This unintended disclosure of personal information put veterans and their families at risk for fraud and identity theft.