Two reports released by the United States government indicate that terrorism remains a 'significant threat' to the United States.

The State Department released its annual report on international terrorism on the same day as the National Counterterrorism Center released its statistics on global terrorism to the public.

According to the State Department report, 'international terrorism continued to pose a significant threat to the United States and its partners in 2004.'

The State Department did not release specific figures for acts of terrorism with its report which has become something of a controversy. In the past, statistics always accompanied the report.

California Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman said that the reason the Bush Administration did not release this year's statistics is because it will show that we are not winning President Bush's so-called 'war on terror.'

'In effect, your decision to withhold the data this year eliminates this vital check on the veracity of the administration's claims,' Waxman wrote.

'The large increases in terrorist attacks reported in 2004 may undermine administration claims of success in the war on terror,' he wrote. 'But political inconvenience has never been a legitimate basis for withholding facts from the American people.'

The 129-page report also indicated, 'The primary terrorist threat to the United States in 2004 continued to be al Qaeda, which remained intent on attacking the U.S. homeland as well as U.S. interests abroad,' the report said.

It noted, however, that 2004 'was marked by progress in decreasing the threat from states that sponsor terrorism.'

The states cited as sponsoring the most terrorism were Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Iran. The State Department report said those countries 'continue to embrace terrorism as an instrument of policy.' The Sudan and Libya were cited as nations that took 'significant steps to cooperate in the global war on terrorism.'

The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)report indicated that there were 651 terrorist attacks worldwide in 2004 that were classified as 'significant.' They killed 1,907 people and wounded countless more.

While no terrorist attacks took place on American soil, approximately 10 percent of the attacks worldwide struck at American interests according to John Brennan, the acting director of the NCTC.

The NCTC report did not include terrorists who attacked people of their own nationality although Brennan said it would do so in the future.

Regardless of the specifics, it is clear that terrorism remains a primary concern to Americans today and a significant threat to our security.