Lexicon: Clean-skin terrorist

DEFINITION clean-skin ter•ror•ist n. A potential attacker with a spotless record whose documents don't arouse suspicion

CONTEXT U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a British newspaper that the U.S. fears its next major terrorist attack could be carried out by "clean-skin terrorists" in Europe who feel they are treated as second-class citizens. He warned that the visa-waiver program, which allows citizens from some European countries to enter the U.S. without a visa, could be an open door for the terrorists.

USAGE The term clean-skin, once used to describe drug traffickers without a record, morphed in the late 1990s to characterize...

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