Terrorists Snapping Up Disposable Cell Phones

I haven’t had time to research this in any detail, but it has the potential to be an important story: suspected terrorists have begun buying disposable cell phones in bulk. I take it that such phones are difficult if not impossible to trace. What makes the story potentially explosive is that the current buying spree seems to have begun suddenly, in various locations around the country, possibly as a reaction to the New York Times’ blowing the secrecy of the NSA’s cell phone intercept program. If that’s true, and if these disposable phones really make it harder for the NSA to exploit information about al Qaeda’s overseas phone numbers, the Times will have a lot to answer for.
At this point, though, I don’t know that that is the case. I’m not sure who first highlighted this story, but Michelle Malkin has a good roundup with links to a number of sites and news stories. Apparently one would-be bulk purchaser has already been linked to a suspected terrorist cell in Texas.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Reader Brian McCarthy is skeptical of the police report that Michelle got from ABC News, and is up on her site. He makes some good points:

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