Do you think the level of fear of terrorism in the United States is justified?

Today there was a story on NPR about a British Airline executive petitioning the government to relax passenger screening methods. He proposed eliminating the practice of having passengers take off shoes and belts. He said that there’s no need for this because the other screens can see into shoes and belts. He said the only reason the Brits do this is because the Americans want them to.

To answer this question you will need to make some guesses about what the level of fear is and what fear means in this case. Please tell us a little about what you think the average level of fear is, and what you think the fear should be, and why you believe these things.

More specifically, is American screening technology less sophisticated than European screening? If not, should the requirement to remove shoes and belts be dropped in the US, as well?