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Terrorist attacks are a serious threat for public security and are a challenge for both the private actors and public agencies involved in its provision.1 Recently, camera surveillance has gained prominence as a measure for counterterrorism, and public security agencies in many countries plan to invest large amounts of money in this technology. In this short article, we propose essential questions that should be analysed in order to evaluate this development in security policy. We draw on an economic approach to identify the relevant issues and refer to a wide spectrum of literature to inform our assessment of camera surveillance as an instrument in the fight against terrorism. In particular, research on the effectiveness of camera surveillance as a crime-prevention tool provides interesting insight