"the Americans"

Flying out of Heathrow earlier today, to New York. Our departure was delayed by about 90 minutes because every single passenger was getting frisked before boarding, and every carryon was getting opened and searched. I asked why they were doing this and what all the fuss was about. To his credit, the frisker was very polite and apologetic when I asked (in the US you tend to get nothing but attitude and aggressive posturing if you ask questions like that). His response? "The Americans". He kind of sighed and looked truly regretful as he explained since the underpants bomber, the US is demanding that all passengers and carryons be searched prior to boarding. We are a very, very difficult country to like sometimes.