“At no time in the last 25 years has the future been more uncertain and the world more dangerous than it is today,” he warned in a speech delivered from behind a podium, saying it was “time for the American people to hear the truth” about the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which he called “the worst threat to freedom since communism.”

“They are a religious movement that seeks to take the world back to the 7th century,” he said. “It is their stated vow to kill as many Americans as possible.”

Much of the first half of Perry’s speech focused on criticism of Obama’s foreign policy, with broadsides against the dangers of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and the Obama administration’s dealings with Israel.

Perry, who left office last month and is considered a likely presidential candidate in 2016, also called for border security before any immigration deal and called drug gangs who he says spill across the border with Mexico “a clear and present danger to the health and safety of all Americans.”

Since his failed 2012 presidential bid, Perry has tried to rebrand himself as a more serious politician. He’s met with experts from Washington think tanks and made trips abroad to brush up on his foreign policy cred.

Moving to domestic policy during the latter half of his speech on Friday, Perry struck a populist tone and noted that the costs of health-care, housing and college tuition are all going up faster than wages.

“Opportunity and security has been replaced by anxiety and worry” for middle-class Americans, he said, and later added that “it’s time to bring jobs and prosperity to Main Street, not just Wall Street.”

Perry did not address his indictment last summer on abuse of office charges; his attorneys are trying to throw out the charges.

His speech last year at CPAC was one of the best received among the attendees — many of them younger libertarians and conservatives — and he roused the crowd with his vision of a small and limited government and bragging about the successes of fellow GOP governors.

This time around, while he did get several standing ovations, many in the crowd streamed out of the ballroom between the conclusion of his remarks and a short question-and-answer session.