New Office to Issue Terrorism Data

[seemslikeadream]

State Department says move is for technical reasons, but one observer sees attempt to ditch political problem as numbers rise

By Sonni Efron and Paul Richter, Times Staff Writers


WASHINGTON — The State Department will stop releasing an annual report on terrorist incidents worldwide, saying Monday that a new federal office for counter-terrorism would take over the task of compiling the statistics.

State Department officials explained the change as a technical move. But a longtime U.S. counter-terrorism expert now working outside the government said the decision came amid significant increases in the number of terrorist incidents reported worldwide in 2004 and represents an attempt by the State Department to unload a political problem onto a new government office.

"They didn't want to have to explain to the press why they're 'winning' the war on terror, but the numbers are the highest ever in the 37 years since they've been reporting the data," said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA and State Department counter- terrorism official. "If terrorist incidents had dropped 50%, do you think they'd be eliminating the report?"

A senior State Department official said there were so many problems with the methodology of the statistics that it was not possible to draw simple conclusions about trends in terrorist attacks. The report, called "Patterns of Global Terrorism," is required under federal law to be submitted to Congress by April 30. This year's report will be submitted by the State Department without the data, which will be added later by the new agency.
more
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-report19apr19,1,812036.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true

[htuttle]

1. Another new federal office?

The party of big government strikes again. Another day, another new pointless federal bureaucracy to dole out tax dollars to crony contractors.

[bushisanidiot]

2. A new federal office/program for every repuke. Spend those tax dollars!!

this administration is literally TRYING to bankrupt america..

[merwin]

3. How honest... no need to lie when you just don't give out the info.