If you think terrorism is the largest threat facing the US, well I will have to respectfully disagree. Climate change affects the globe and will always be an issue. We won't even have a planet to live on in years to come. Any expert will tell you that human survival skills kick in when everything is taken away (food, water, shelter). People will turn on one another in a heartbeat.
But, we can make things a tad closer to home, with some facts.
The following was taken from Neil deGrasse Tyson, so do not look to me for source data, altho I did fact check most of this and it's legit:
3,400: Americans who died by Terrorism since 2001 .... 3,400: Americans who died by household Firearms since five weeks ago.
400,000: Americans who died fighting in World War II....400,000: Americans who died by household Firearms since 2001
1.4 Million: Americans who died in all Wars fought since 1776.... 1.4 Million: Americans who died via household Guns since 1968
More than 45 million people, or 14.5 percent of all Americans, lived below the poverty line last year (2012), the Census Bureau reported..
To say Terrorism is the largest threat facing our nation is just....wrong. We can disagree on that - and that is fine. But we should probably look at the issues facing us on a day-to-day basis before worrying about outlier attacks.
Terrorism is a sad realization of the world today. It exists and it is disgusting. I think we can all agree that stopping terrorist thwarts are of high importance. More of the US budget should be spent on Intelligence gathering and less on weaponry. Keeping our borders and people safe is clearly important. But, to say terrorism or any ongoing quagmire is our largest threat is simply false. Climate Change has the potential to take more lives directly and/or indirectly than any terrorist attack will - and it will be an issue plaguing the planet as a whole for decades to come.
p.s. The DOJ and CIA also agree that Climate Change has both direct and indirect correlations to the rise of terrorist cells.