Islamist terrorism biggest threat to U.S. national security: TWT/CPAC poll

Conservatives say Islamist terrorism is the biggest threat to U.S. national security, trumping the dangers of more traditional enemies such as Iran or Russia, according to The Washington Times/CPAC flash poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

Forty-six percent of the 190 respondents said terrorism is the biggest threat to national security interests, followed by China’s ownership of U.S. debt at 29 percent.

Thirteen percent said a nuclear-armed Iran is the biggest threat, and 11 percent think Russia’s aggression presents the biggest threat.

Barry Sharp, 61, of Georgia, said that the Middle East is his biggest concern, saying a “comedy of errors” has paved for the emergence of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

“We shouldn’t have pulled troops out of Iraq,” he said.

The crowd at the annual conservative gathering typically has a strong libertarian bent, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has been critical of U.S. interventions in the Middle East, has won The Washington Times/CPAC presidential preference straw poll two years running.

But many of the speakers angling for possible 2016 presidential bids have struck a hawkish tone over the first two days of the conference, consistently hammering the Obama administration’s response to the Islamic State and warning about the threat of a nuclear Iran.

“The second problem is a nuclear Iran, and even under Bush nothing happened,” Mr. Sharp said. “Everything changes when they get the bomb. It is not that they are going to use the bomb - it is that they are going to blackmail people with the bomb.”