The question to ask when you look at security is not whether this makes us safer, but whether it's worth the trade-off.

It's certainly easier to implement bad security and make it illegal for anyone to notice than it is to implement good security.

The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act. And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want [...] Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories about the plot and the threat. And if we're terrified, and we share that fear, we help.

ID can be hijacked, and cards can be faked. All of the 9/11 terrorists had fake IDs, yet they still got on the planes. If the British national ID card can't be faked, it will be the first on the planet.

I tell people: if it's in the news, don't worry about it, because by definition, news is something that almost never happens.

People often represent the weakest link in the security chain and are chronically responsible for the failure of security systems.

Terrorism is a crime against the mind. We win by refusing fear.