Part of the problem with the airline security, today, is that it is disproportionate to the risk, in my opinion. Unfortunately, perception of risk is about the best you can do with terrorism, since it isn't statistical.

You may recall that there was a period of time (my memory says that it was about one month, about three years ago) where there was a loss of life terrorist bombing in a restaurant just about every day for about 30 days in Israel.

Based on relative population size, the equivalent (in the United States) would be about 100 loss of life restaurant bombings every day for 30 days. If that occurred, what changes would you expect to see in security in the US? (I suspect that after 2 days, let alone 30, we would all be required to wear minimal underwear with clear plastic clothes.) And remember that in Israel, you already have someone with a machine gun (not just a gun, but an automatic weapon) within a block or two of anywhere.

Terrorism can be minimized by competent, intelligent security. The current concentration of ridiculous security (especially as it relates to pointy items) on airplanes is simply a hysterical reaction to one of hundreds of other credible scenarios. But no one in the government intends to be blamed for allowing something to happen on "their watch." The TSA is responsible for airports, not restaurants, busses, nuclear plants, factories, water supplies, food supplies, etc.