Did missiles threaten the actual security of the united states?

You're talking the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ask yourself this, did missiles threaten the actual security of the Soviet Union? Did the missiles present a threat to Khrushchev? The Soviet missiles placed in Cuba were a direct response to the US missiles placed in Turkey. Khrushchev saw the Jupiter IRBMs (Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles) in Turkey as a real threat to the Soviet Union. The Soviets had MRBMs (Medium-Range Ballistic Missiles) and IRBMs in the USSR but their range meant they could only wipe out Alaska. They were a real threat to the residents of the 49th state, but the lower 48 didn't have to worry. US missiles in Turkey meant that in the event of a war breaking out between the US and USSR that the US could wipe out Moscow in a nuclear missile strike while the USSR couldn't touch Washington DC. Placing R-12 MRBMs and R-14 IRBMs in Cuba gave the Soviet the ability to threaten not only Washington DC but much of the eastern seaboard.