Judiciary Hearing Tuesday on Homeland Security Risks Posed by Identity Fraud and Theft

6/24/2002

From: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn, 202-225-2492, both of the House Committee on the Judiciary

News Advisory:

What: Oversight hearing on The Risks to Homeland Security from Identity Fraud and Identity Theft

Who: Immigration, Border Security, and Claims Subcommittee - Rep. George W. Gekas (R-Penn.), Chairman and Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee - Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), Chairman

When: 4 p.m., Tuesday, June 25

Where: 2141 Rayburn Building Washington, D.C.

Nearly all of the September 11th hijackers employed one or more false identities to carry out their deadly mission. The hijackers obtained valid drivers' licenses and State-Issued motor vehicle identification cards from Virginia, Florida, and New Jersey. The hijackers then were able to present these documents as identification instead of their national passports which would have identified their foreign origin and might have aroused extra scrutiny.

Problems...

-- Terrorists operating under false identities pose an extremely serious threat to homeland security.

-- Some of the 9/11 hijackers falsely obtained Social Security numbers, which allowed them to open bank accounts and get credit cards here. A May 2002 report by the Social Security Administration revealed that 1 in 12 foreigners receiving new Social Security cards used counterfeit documents or stolen identities to obtain them. Preliminary figures show 100,000 Social Security cards were wrongly issued to non-citizens in 2000.

-- Lax security of source documents by Federal agencies and State agencies -- which issue valid identity cards, Social Security cards, and drivers' licenses -- continues to make it relatively easy for identity thieves to operate.

WITNESSES: Paul McNulty, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; James G. Huse, Jr., Social Security Administration Inspector General; Richard M. Stana, Director, Justice Issues, U.S. General Accounting Office; and Edmund Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Groups Consumer Program Director.