The squinting and staring at the screen, I don't mind so much. It tells me that they're really paying attention.

Still, the laptop out of the bag and off with the shoes thing leaves me a little perplexed. Other countries with serious security concerns don't do this, and I sometimes wonder if all the commotion and chaos created at the screening checkpoint by unpacking, partially-stripping, etc., doesn't distract from the screening effort and/or created other, potentially more serious problems.

With all the checkpoint chaos, it would be quite easy for someone to slip something into someone's partially opened bag.