Comment by A_D_E_P_T

I've been to Russia, China (about ten times,) central Asian -stans, various parts of South America, Africa, etc. My phones and laptops (plural because I travel with >2/ea, and it looks kind of weird,) have never been inspected.

I really only hear these stories when people travel to the US, lol. It's especially sad+funny (darkly comic, say,) that the guy in OP is a US Citizen traveling back to the US.