by TChris

As TalkLeft noted here, the State Department, having issued a misleading report last year concerning worldwide terrorist attacks, decided not to release the statistics this year. Rep. Henry Waxman has written to State Department Acting Inspector General Cameron Hume, complaining that the State Department is denying "public access to important information about the incidence of terrorism." Waxman wonders whether the Bush administration is releasing information selectively, and asked the IG whether the State Department's decision was based on politics.

"There appears to be a pattern in the administration's approach to terrorism data: favorable facts are revealed while unfavorable facts are suppressed," Waxman wrote. "This is wrong," he added. "Regardless of whether disclosure of the terrorism data is in the political interests of the White House, the public has a right to know basic facts about the number of attacks launched by terrorists in 2004."

Waxman isn't alone in recognizing the administation's pattern of concealing data that doesn't support its warped perception of reality. The State Department claims that the data will be released by the National Counterterrorism Center, but that seems to be news to the NCTC. The CIA, speaking on behalf of the newly formed NCTC, said "no decisions had been made on whether to release the data."