We need military for at least another generation just to deter the bad people. There's no rule of God or nature that says we have to have a threat. Well, you certainly write about a lot of them. I have trouble making them up now. In Debt of Honor in 1994, when I had the Japanese taking us on, that was a bit of a stretch.
Terrorism is a police matter.
If a terrorist is sponsored and supplied by a nation state, then it's an act of war. Enough to annoy you, yes. Terrorism is a buzzing mosquito on a summer night. With the Russians, it was a rabid vampire bat. If he kills American citizens with chemical weapons, we'll turn his country into a parking lot.