[einhverfr]

"Are you implying that we shouldn't react disproportionately?"

I would say that even when you factor in malicious intent we still react disproportionally, and that this is an inherent problem.

Any individual involved in any security-related field will have to work with the concept of acceptable risk at some point. The damage that terrorists can cause us is not that high compared to the way we victimize ourselves to try to prevent very modest harm.

Our reaction has become comparable to a cytokine storm in reaction to a flu virus, really. That can't be good.

Edit: As a side note, our reaction is such that it allows for what I call "grey-terrorism" vulnerabilities. If we define terrorism to only include acts which are violent or directly dangerous to human life, then leaving cardboard boxes marked "do not touch" in airport restrooms around the nation is not "terrorism." The act is not dangerous to human life. The act is not violent. The act however may be very disruptive to our airports, and it may be very good at inspiring terror.