Jill: How many "terrorists" have you met Sam? Actual terrorists?
--Terry Gilliam, "Brazil" (1985)
I have never met a politician either, but they're out there.
As regards to the question "Is terrorism a greater threat now, than it was before Sep 11?" The answer is yes. Before Sep. 11 everyone assumed that the US was safe from attack on its soil. Yes, the threat remains much the same for our affiliates overseas, but the idea that terrorists would spend years assimilating into our country in order to give their lives to kill people was not exactly an accepted part of reality. The threat of terrorism before 9/11 did not carry the threat of total dedication on the terrorists part in order to sacrifice years of the life, in order to sacrifice their life itself in the end. This is much different than someone overseas who is part of an army, then goes on a suicide bombing mission one day.
The greater threat of terrorism is not so much a growing of idealogy. But, their ability to acquire new technology which was impossible to acquire before (have you seen the new jumbo jet? I can just picture the watering mouths of the next generation of hijackers), with the ever-increasing ability of countries to go nuclear, and the advances of science and biological warfare in government programs. This is what we must stop. This is also something that will take years to accomplish, as in order to stop this threat we must overthrow a large amount of dictatorships in order to acheive democratic stability throughout the world.
As technology improves at an exponential rate, so will our time to stop such threats decrease exponentially. The damage that one man can do will increase with the increases in technology.
You seem to be lost in your own thoughts.