Up to 140,000 driver's licenses issued to Massachusetts residents have unverifiable social security numbers and "may be in the hands of thieves, illegal immigrants or even terrorists", the Boston Herald reports in "Registry probes 140,000 licenses: Identity thievery suspected".

There are 5.4 million people with licenses in Mass., and the 140,000 number does not include licenses issued after the year 2000. They've been instantaneously verifying SSNs since that date.

[Kim Hinden, the registrar of motor vehicles] said many of the discrepancies may have innocuous explanations, such as a name change due to marriage or a simple typographical or inputting error, but officials remain concerned about the possibility of identity theft or "licensed" terrorists.

Aw, pshaw. Gil Cedillo isn't worried about that happening in California, so everything's going to be OK.