Chertoff: European terrorists trying to enter US (AP)

Chertoff: European terrorists trying to enter US

By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
25 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - European terrorists are trying
to enter the United States with European Union
passports, and there is no guarantee officials
will catch them every time, Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.

Chertoff's comments on Capitol Hill comes as the
country is entering a potentially vulnerable
period with the presidential nominating conventions
coming up next month; the presidential election
in November; and the transition to a new
administration in January — all of which may be
attractive targets for terrorists.

In his last scheduled appearance before the House
Homeland Security Committee, Chertoff said that
the more time and space al-Qaida and its allies
have to recruit, train, experiment and plan, the
more problems the U.S. and Europe will face down
the road.

"The terrorists are deliberately focusing on
people who have legitimate Western European
passports, who don't appear to have records as
terrorists," Chertoff told lawmakers. "I have a
good degree of confidence we can catch people
coming in. But I have to tell you ... there's
no guarantee. And they are working very hard to
slip by us."

-snip-