Government Agencies
Agencies are various organizations or entities within the government. Learn more about agencies like the FBI, foster care, the Postal Service or Customs.
Anyone can submit an idea for a postage stamp, but who decides which ideas make the cut?
The U.S. National Security Agency has broad reaching powers. But are they all for good?
Are we ready to go back to a pre-EPA USA? Take a look at a series of pics from the National Archives to see what it was like before the agency was formed.
The longest mail route in America is nearly 200 miles. The shortest? Less than 1 mile.
The USDA just wiped out thousands of online records documenting abuses at zoos, circuses, universities and research facilities, outraging animal rights activists.
The Department of Defense relies on nuclear force systems that are 53 years old. These critical systems were brand-new when President Kennedy was assassinated.
President Obama nominated Carla D. Hayden for the position of Librarian of Congress this week. If confirmed, she could become one seriously powerful librarian.
You’ll need way more than a stamp to put a postcard in the mail in these inaccessible, underwater and just plain odd mailboxes.
While the FDA originated amid the Civil War, it took a 20th century novel about the horrors of meatpacking to convince the government to officially regulate what goes into our bodies. How does the FDA keep us safer these days?
We may be living in the age of the Internet, but simple shortwave radio transmitters still play a part in the espionage game. The huge benefit: There's no trail.
Spying is an important part of government intelligence gathering. This collection of pictures gives you an insight into this highly secretive task.
The EPA was established to protect human health and the environment. How does the agency interpret and enact environmental legislation?
The U.S. Postal Services delivers 213 billion pieces of mail a year. But will e-mail someday triumph over snail mail? And how do your letters get to the right place?
Maybe you're involved in a covert operation. Maybe you're just curious. Spies have developed their own language of code words in order to keep from being discovered. We don't need to know, but you should learn the 11 terms used by spies here.
The U.S. Marshals Service is the oldest law enforcement agency in the nation. Learn about famous U.S. Marshals and the duties and history of U.S. Marshals.
Spies have shaped foreign policy, altered the course of wars and left a deep (though usually hidden) impression on world history. It's a tense and often deadly job.
When the FBI announced two years ago that it no was longer using its Carnivore Internet surveillance software, it seemed like a victory. Find out why the techniques employed in the new ISP-based surveillance approach may be even more evasive.
In a document released in November 2006, the Department of Homeland Security revealed aspects of a targeting program that most citizens and many lawmakers didn't know about.
The FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list has been an unqualified success since its inception in the 1950s. Learn how they choose its members.
Despite plenty of Hollywood films about the CIA and its spies, many people still don't know what the agency actually does. In this article, we'll take a look at the history of the CIA and the scandals that have rocked it through the decades.
Find out what the FBI does, how it started, and what it takes to become an FBI agent. We'll also take a look at some of the tools and techniques used by the FBI and learn about J. Edgar Hoover.
The ACLU has worked to defend fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the right to privacy for 80 years, but not without controversy. Read about fascinating facts and history-changing decisions the ACLU has been party to.
When a Supreme Court justice retires, there's a lot of speculation and political maneuvering regarding the replacement. Find out how Supreme Court justices are nominated, who is qualified to serve and how a nominee is approved.
The foster care system is a relatively recent solution to the problem of parents being unable to care for their children. Separate and very different from adoption, foster care is usually meant to be a temporary situation. Find out how the system works and how people become foster parents.
Just about every U.S. president of the past 80 years has released his memoirs. But they don't all take the same format. We'll look at the variations and why -- apart from historical record -- former presidents feel compelled to put pen to paper.
