>> I wonder, however, if someone from Europe comes to the US and tried to use their CC with a chip; will it work here?
Yep. Tragically the chipped ones aren't that safe either: you can read the RF from at least 2 feet away using hardware bought from Ebay and use downloaded PC software to crack it in seconds. The dude wandering near you in Walmart may be trying to skim your card. ;-) Some people now put their CC in special cases to avoid this- check out "credit card RF" on Ebay. FWIW, most of the chip public transport systems and business security systems also are compromised. Desfire EV1 still is reasonably safe because it uses AES, but only we paranoids have converted to that.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
