Intelligence treasure trove from terrorist phones

ABC News:

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Since Friday, U.S. intelligence agencies have been tracking the phones and SIM cards recovered by Indian authorities from the Mumbai terrorists leading to a "treasure trove" of leads in Pakistan and several possible connections to the United States, officials say.

Officials say one of the cell phone SIM cards may have been purchased in the United States but would not provide any more details because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The phones also include the same Thuraya satellite phone intercepted in November by the Indian spy agency RAW, the Research and Analysis Wing, which runs an extensive electronic intercept operation.

NSA, the National Security Agency, has the technical means to retrieve all calls made from satellite and cell phones in the south Asia region.

Officials say one of the phones recovered was a Thuraya satellite phone.

"Once we have the number we will be able to know everyone who was called and where the calls were made from," one former intelligence office says.

A US counter-terrorism official says all leads continue to point Lashkar e Taiba, a Kashmir separatist group with strong ties to al Qaeda.

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"They share training, weapons and coordinate targets with al Qaeda," says former CIA intelligence officer John Kiriakou, an ABC News consultant.

The lead of this story was about the early warnings that India had about the attacks, but while there were some hints about the attack it did not provide the time and place of attack.

I think the intelligence trove may be the most important aspect of the story. If Pakistan takes advantage of the evidence and goes after the people responsible it can have an important effect. It is possible that it may result in a cascading effect against the enemy operative.