First of all, the response to attacks like this one have been uniformly reactive, not proactive.
When the deranged individual tried to blow up the plane with a "shoe bomb", the response was to make us take off our shoes.
Now, another one tried to blow up the plane, so we have to be patted down to search for bombs.
Of course, he got on he plane in Nigeria. What kind of security do they have in Nigeria, I wonder? Maybe the response should be to require anyone who gets on a plane in such a place to be screened again after the plane lands in a civilized nation. It would seem the Dutch would have had a better chance of detecting a bomb.
But, still, that is reactive. Where might the terrorists strike next? Where are we vulnerable? Those are the questions that the homeland security needs to address, not how are we going to prevent another attack that is the same as one that has already been attempted.
Oh, yes, and profiling is the way to go. Because a Muslim gets on a plane in Nigeria with a bomb, does that mean we have to pat down Grandma when she gets on a plane in San Francisco to visit her grandkids? That's just PC run amuck.