DHS Head: British Jihadist Threat to USA
The following interview of USA DHS secretary Chertoff illustrates the concerns of USA regarding the continuous growth of Jihadists and Islamist individuals and organizations within the UK, and their continuing threat not only to the UK and the world, but also specifically as a threat towards the United States of America:
Britain 'could stage another September 11'
April 7, 2007
The London Telegraph
By Toby Harnden
Last Updated: 11:57pm BST 07/04/2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/04/wterr04.xml
Interview: America's new homeland security chief tells Toby Harnden of his fears of 'clean skin' terrorists
The United States fears that the next September 11-style attack on America could be launched by Muslims from Britain or Europe who feel "second-class citizens" and alienated by a "colonial legacy", according to the US Homeland Security chief.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Michael Chertoff, who arrives in Britain tomorrow for talks with John Reid, the Home Secretary, said the US was determined to build extra defences against so-called "clean skin" terrorists from Europe.
"We need to build layers of protection, and I don't think we totally want to rely upon the fact that a foreign government is going to know that one of their citizens is suspicious and is going to be coming here," he said.
Mr Chertoff insisted that the US required additional information, including email addresses and credit card details, to vet European passengers and rejected "the idea that we're going to bargain with the European Union over who's going to come into the United States" under the visa waiver scheme.
"We have an absolute right to get this, in the same way that if someone wants to be a guest in my house I have a right to ask them who they are and get identification."
The July 7 tube and bus bombs nearly two years ago had shown that Britain had a problem with its Muslim immigrant population that America did not share, he argued.
"Our Muslim population is better educated and economically better off than the average American. So, from a standpoint of mobility in society, it's a successful immigrant population. To some degree, the whole country is a country of immigrants, and therefore there's no sense that we have insiders or outsiders. In some countries [in Europe], you had an influx of people that came in as a colonial legacy and may have always have felt, to some extent, that they were viewed as second-class citizens, and they've tended to impact and be kind of clustered in some areas."
Mr Chertoff, a former federal prosecutor, said that one of his biggest worries was that "unknown terrorists" - such as most of the 7/7 bombers, who were British citizens with no criminal record or intelligence traces - could use the visa waiver scheme to enter and attack America.
Britain is among 27 countries that participate in the scheme, which allows visitors to enter the US without a visa for up to 90 days. About 18 million people visit America every year under this programme.
Zacharias Moussaoui, one of the September 11 plotters, was a French citizen who entered America without a visa. Mr Chertoff said that "we can do a good job with the known terrorists, if we have their name, or if we've previously arrested them and have their fingerprint on file" but a more potent threat was the terrorist with no known form.
"The fear has always been the so-called 'clean skin' - that's a person whose documents are completely legitimate, are not forged."
This had led the US to require a significant tightening of the rules for passengers travelling under a visa waiver. Among the new requirements are that all passenger information be transmitted to the US before a plane takes off. Soon, passengers will have to give all 10 fingerprints, rather than just two.
"If someone's a terrorist, and they've left their fingerprints at a training camp, or in a safe house where a bomb was built, and those latent fingerprints are collected, we can then, when someone crosses a border, match their real prints against those latent prints even if we don't know their name," he said.
Mr Chertoff rejected the idea that the Iraq war had made the world more dangerous.
"Those that are inclined to be radicalised will find a reason to be radicalised no matter what's going on in the world."
America was "unquestionably safer and more secure" than it was on September 11 2001 but there was a danger of complacency because it had not been attacked for more than five years.
"Where you find some softness is in some elements of the media or in some elements of the intellectual class who convince themselves that this is our fault, or that there's an easier way to avoid the problem if we can just figure what price we have to pay. That is a plea to the sensibility of exhaustion and history has shown that's a very damaging and very destructive impulse."
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US fears attack by British Muslims, says security chief
Last updated at 10:23am on 4th April 2007
Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=446611&in_page_id=1811&ito=newsnow
George Bush's homeland security chief today warned the next September 11-style attack on America could be launched by Muslims from Britain who feel "secondclass citizens".
Michael Chertoff, who arrives in Britain tomorrow for talks with Home Secretary John Reid, said the US was determined to build extra defences against so-called "clean skin" terrorists from Europe.
"We need to build layers of protection. We don't want to rely upon the fact that a foreign government is going to know one of their citizens is suspicious and is going to be coming here," he said.
Mr Chertoff told The Daily Telegraph it was vital the US has additional information, including credit card details, to vet European passengers.
The 7 July bombs had shown Britain had a problem with its Muslim immigrant population that America did not share, he argued.
"Our Muslim population is better educated and economically better off than the average American. So it's a successful immigrant population...
In some countries (in Europe), you had an influx of people that came in as a colonial legacy and may have always felt they were viewed as secondclass citizens."
Mr Chertoff said one of the biggest fears was of "clean skin" terrorists where a person has legitimate documents and no intelligence record.
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'Britons Could Attack Us'
Sky News
Updated: 11:38, Friday April 06, 2007
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1259477,00.html
The man charged with protecting Americans from terrorist attack has told Sky News he is worried radicalised Britons could try to mount an assault on his country.
Michael Chertoff, the Head of Homeland Security, said the US needed further protection from so-called "clean skins" in Britain or Europe.
That is the name given by the intelligence community to those people who feel alienated but have not come to the attention of the authorities.
Mr Chertoff confirmed America had foiled some terrorist attacks but warned his countrymen not to become complacent.
The interview on Sky News came on the eve of the politician's first meeting with Home Secretary John Reid.
Mr Chertoff spoke to presenter Anna Botting about the threat of terrorism, the foreign policy of the West and the contentious Passenger Name Records system.
He said the US was "not hysterical but not complacent" about the terror threat and claimed the enemy was "focused".
The anti-terror chief also defended plans to check all 10 fingerprints of visitors to the US.
He said it was the "best tool" against terrorism and denied it was next step to taking DNA from passengers.
