LONDON, April 4: The United States believes that the next major terrorist attack on its soil could be from European Muslims who feel they are treated as “second-class citizens,” Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph before his planned arrival in Britain on Thursday, Chertoff noted that disgruntled European immigrant Muslims could easily enter the United States without needing a visa beforehand – European countries are among 27 states whose citizens do not require a visa to visit.

“Our Muslim population is better educated and economically better off than the average American,” Chertoff told the paper.

“So, from a standpoint of mobility in society, 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 always have felt, to some extent, that they were viewed as second-class citizens.” Chertoff also told the paper that one of his biggest fears was “unknown terrorists” who could use the visa waiver programme to enter the United States.

“The fear has always been the so-called ‘clean skin’ – that’s a person whose documents are completely legitimate, are not forged.” He will meet with Home Secretary John Reid when he arrives in Britain.—AFP