A few terrorists in our midst is inevitable, and rigorous law enforcement will keep them from becoming dangerous.
You have to understand that extremists of all types pop up in our society all the time, but we almost always manage to nab them before they do something horrendous.
Extremism is not monopoloized by Islam.
So, as long as we focus on keeping foreign militants out of our country, and search and arrest the few home grown ones that will pop up from time to tme, we'll be able to avoid the general mayhem that we see in the Middle East. But by not addressing the issue that produces foreign militants and targets them against us, it would be a losing battle to remain within our borders and not deal with that source.
Think about it.
I have.
Nits make lice.
The best place to stop terrorism is before it starts, and fight it at every level as it attemps to grow.
There is nothing to stop us from seeing suicide bombers here (and very little that can be done to protect against it in public areas).
We do NOT have "a few terrorists" in our midst at all times. For many people it is unthinkable to commit such an act of inhumanity.
Other extremists are cognizant enough to realize that blowing themselves up (and killing some dancers or diners or school children) will do nothing to advance the cause. When the cause IS "killing the infidel", all deaths benefit the cause.