In honor of Native American Day (a state holiday that will be observed in California and Tennessee tomorrow, September 28, and in South Dakota on October 8), we’re focusing this week on two federal agencies that…
Category: Spotlight
Spotlight: NIH
Which federal agency began in 1887 as the one-room “Laboratory of Hygiene” and has since grown to encompass 27 separate institutes and centers that occupy almost 16 million gross square feet of government-owned space and nearly…
Spotlight: Bureau of the Public Debt
Which small agency within the U.S. Department of the Treasury auctions and issues more than $9 trillion in securities every year? The Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD)—under authority derived from Article I, Section 8 of…
Spotlight: NARA
Which federal agency is in charge of preserving approximately 10 billion pages of textual records; 12 million maps, charts and drawings; 25 million still photographs and graphics; 24 million aerial photographs; 300,000 reels of motion picture…
Spotlight: Financial Management Service
Which federal agency oversees a daily cash flow of $89 billion, disbursing more than $1.6 trillion in non-defense payments each year and collecting more than $3 trillion annually—which makes it responsible for administering the world’s largest…
Spotlight: NASA
In honor of the Mars rover Curiosity’s successful landing on the Red Planet early yesterday morning (Monday, August 6), we’ve decided to take a look at the agency behind that impressive feat: the National Aeronautics and…
Spotlight: USACE
Which federal agency is the world’s largest public engineering, design and construction management agency? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (also known as USACE or simply “the Corps”) is made up of some 37,000 civilian and…
Spotlight: VBA
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is one of three organizational elements within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). (The other two are the Veterans Health Administration and the National Cemetery Administration.) VBA is responsible for…
Spotlight: USCIS
Which federal agency has been part of five different departments? The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began in 1891 as the Office of Superintendent of Immigration in the Treasury Department. In 1903, the by-then renamed…
Spotlight: CNCS
Which federal agency was formed “to engage Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service to meet community needs”? The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) engages more than 5 million Americans in service through…