The employee, Laura Bustamante, is believed to be a methamphetamine user, Department of Workforce Services executive director Kristen Cox recently told a legislative interim committee.

"Currently, as we found out, our security is sound," said department spokesman Curt Stewart on Thursday. "And about the only thing we could beef it up with is to add a drug-testing component."

Nationally, a link has been shown between identity theft and drug use: Drug abusers steal credit card and financial information to fund their drug habits, law enforcement officials report.

But constitutional privacy protections limit who can be drug tested in government agencies. In Utah, certain government employees may be subject to random drug testing, including state troopers, corrections officers and others. Any state employee can be drug tested if "reasonable suspicion" exists of abuse.

Bustamante is accused of stealing what may amount to dozens of Utahns' personal information, leading to the alleged theft of thousands of dollars. A federal complaint from earlier this month alleges that she chose victims if she could access their personal postal mailboxes.

The 34-year-old was fired March after an anonymous tipster alerted government officials of the abuse. An employee from 2000 to 2003 and from 2004 until this year, she had previously passed a routine background check.

Utah passed a law allowing drug testing of government employees in 1989.

The approximately 2,100 Department of Workforce Services employees manage a range of state programs including food stamps, unemployment benefits and needy family temporary assistance. Those programs mean some employees have access to Utahns' personal information, which may include Social Security numbers.

New department employees currently undergo a standard background check which does not include a drug or alcohol test.

To increase security, the department is moving toward eliminating Social Security numbers in its database whenever possible and assigning a unique case number.

A presentation to legislators last week led to questions about security in other Utah agencies and why private companies can test when government cannot.

"It makes me wonder about our state of vulnerability in other departments," said Sen. Patricia Jones, D-Salt Lake City.

But Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, cautioned against a knee-jerk reaction when it comes to drug testing.

"Let's not carry it too far, too fast," he said.

jlyon@sltrib.com