Government Agencies

Federal agencies and independent bodies — the intelligence services, the central bank, and the archives of the state.

NASA

The space agency founded in 1958 that won the race to the Moon and became the symbol of American ambition

The CIA

The Cold War spy agency created in 1947 for foreign intelligence — and covert action around the world

The Environmental Protection Agency

The 1970 agency Nixon created to police the nation's air and water

The FBI

The federal police force born in 1908 that hunted gangsters and radicals — and sometimes the Constitution

The Federal Reserve

The central bank created in 1913 to tame the financial panics that had wrecked the economy for a century

The First Bank of the United States

Hamilton's 1791 experiment in national finance — and the fight it started

The Library of Congress

The national library that rose from ashes on Jefferson's shelves, 1800

The National Park Service

The 1916 agency created to protect "America's best idea"

The NSA

The codebreaking agency founded in secret in 1952 to intercept the world's communications

The Presidential Libraries

The archive system FDR launched in 1939 to preserve the records of the modern presidency

The Second Bank of the United States

The national bank Andrew Jackson set out to destroy, 1816–1836

The Smithsonian Institution

The national museum complex born from a mysterious English bequest, 1846

The United States Postal Service

The mail system older than the nation, founded 1775

U.S. Intelligence

The community of spy agencies built across the 20th century to watch the world — and, at times, Americans