Nearly 10 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we had a smaller but frightening reminder recently that the threat of terrorism is still very much alive.

Authorities say two radical Muslims plotted to attack a military recruiting station in Seattle in protest of U.S. military actions abroad. The men were arrested when they arrived at a warehouse to get the machine guns they hoped to use, the FBI said. They face up to life in prison if they are convicted.

Authorities might not have learned of the plot except that a third person allegedly recruited to take part in it contacted police a few weeks ago.

The building housing the military recruitment facility that authorities say the men planned to attack also housed a day care center. The suspects allegedly discussed pitching grenades into the cafeteria at the recruitment facility. They also apparently were eager to get lots of media coverage of the planned attacks.

Tragically, a 2009 attack on our military at Fort Hood, Texas - also allegedly by a radical Muslim - was not thwarted. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan is accused of 13 counts of murder in that gun attack. And a soldier at an Arkansas recruiting center died in a shooting allegedly carried out by yet another radical Muslim in 2009.

Thankfully, we have not suffered another attack on the scale of 9/11, which killed nearly 3,000 Americans. But we would be terribly unwise to think our country is not still in the terrorists' sights.