Except that when it was first implemented, the government explicitly stated that the Social Security Number was not a valid ID. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/22/

Except that when it was first implemented, the government explicitly stated that the Social Security Number was not a valid ID. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/22/596180023/how-social-security-numbers-became-a-form-of-national-identification https://www.npr.org/2018/03/22/596180023/how-social-security... Due to this, it is fundamentally missing multiple levels of security. You can actually guess someone's SSN within 2 digits if you know their date of birth, and location of/hospital of birth.