I just read a good chunk of John Mueller‘s Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them. It’s a mighty blow against the most powerful form of pessimistic bias that’s afflicted the U.S. during the last five years: fear of terrorism.

Mueller makes a powerful case that terrorism is the asbestos of foreign policy: a minor problem, blown out of proportion in defiance of all statistics, and used to rationalize policies that increase the risk. Read it.