The mission of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is to foster innovation and competitiveness by providing high-quality and timely examination of patent and trademark applications, guiding domestic and international intellectual property (IP) policy, and delivering IP…
Category: Spotlight
Spotlight: The U.S. Intelligence Community
Quick, count up every U.S. intelligence organization. Did you get to 17? Probably not; but don’t worry because few people do. You knew the U.S. intelligence community is vast but did you have any idea that…
Spotlight: NNSA
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)—a semi-autonomous agency within the U. S. Department of Energy (DoE)—is responsible for the management and security of the nation’s nuclear weapons, nuclear nonproliferation and naval reactor programs—serious work, indeed. Its…
Spotlight: NGA
What little-known agency occupies the third-largest federal facility in the Washington, D.C., area (after the Pentagon and the Ronald Reagan building)? Last year, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), part of the Department of Defense, moved into…
Spotlight: GSA
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is the federal government’s “workplace solutions provider.” It aims to leverage its enormous buying power to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and enhance flexibility and convenience for both federal agencies and…
Spotlight: SEC
The mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is to “protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets and facilitate capital formation.” It was created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to restore…
Spotlight: GPO
What federal agency has shrunk to its smallest size in more than a century? The answer—the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)—is no surprise, given the huge changes in printing and information technology that have taken place…
Spotlight: NOAA
The roots of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) date back more than 200 years, to 1807, when the nation’s first scientific agency, the Survey of the Coast (later known as the U.S. Coast and…
Spotlight: FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency. It was established in 1908 as an…
Spotlight: CBP
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is one of the largest and most complex components of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It also is the largest law enforcement agency in the United States, with a workforce of…