Government Documents


This page has been prepared by the NDU Library staff in support of the National Defense University curriculum.            

Access: US Government Printing Office
GPO Access provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government.

America.gov
Authoritative resource for foreign audiences seeking information about American society, political processes, official U.S. policies and culture.

Budget of the United States Government

Census of Governments (2007)

Congress Link
Congress Link is a general guide to Congress prepared by the Dirksen Congressional Center.

Congressional Research Service [CRS]
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) works exclusively for the U.S. Congress, conducting research, analyzing legislation, and providing information at the request of committees, Members, and their staffs.

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy
To provide American citizens direct online access to the basic Federal Government documents that define our democratic society, a core group of current and historical Government publications is being made available for free, permanent, public access via the GPO Access service.

DefenseLink
The home page for DOD information resources.

Department of State
U.S. Embassies and other Diplomatic Missions

DoD 101
Introduction to the Department of Defense.

DoD Almanac
This web site provides a variety of information and statistical material about the Department of Defense - its people, organization, equipment, and funding.

Department of Defense National Defense-Authorization Laws
These guides prepared by the Pentagon Library give the Public Law number and the House, Senate, Conference Reports numbers.

DoD PERSONNEL & PROCUREMENT STATISTICS
This web site provides statistics on DOD personnel and procurement.

FEDSTATS
More than 70 agencies in the United States Federal Government produce statistics of interest to the public. The Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy maintains this site to provide easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by these agencies for public use.

Finding Congressional Documents from the Past
Free online guide to finding older United States Congressional material (pre-1970) written by Jan Bissett who is Reference Librarian at Dickinson Wright PLLC in Michigan and Margi Heinen who is Manager of Library Services at Sherman and Howard in Denver, Colorado.
The article was published in the "Reference from Coast to Coast" column of LLRX.com in January 2003 and looks at printed and online sources of information including free research guides to Congressional materials, links to historical Congressional documents and debates and indexes to Congressional documents. There is a complete list of links cited in the guide. LLRX.com (Law Library Resource Xchange) is a free online Web journal for legal information professionals.

Gateways to Government Documents


Gateways are subject access tools, typically developed by university libraries to facilitate research in government documents. We recommend the following gateways as good starting points for various subject areas.
  • Columbia University
    Excellent attention to subject areas of interest to NDU
  • University of Michigan Documents Center
    The Documents Center is a central reference and referral point for government information, whether local, state, federal, foreign or international. Its web pages are a reference and instructional tool for government, political science, statistical data, and news.
  • The Document Center's Federal Government Resources site is an extensive collection of links including Budget, Legislative, Judicial, Executive Branches and many more noteworthy links.

Government Accountability Office Publications

Library of Congress: Resources for Legislative Researchers
Links to in-depth information on legislative issues from government and non-government sources.

Legislative Process Resources
A very useful compilation of legislative information including biographies, voting history, text of bills, floor votes, etc from Bowling Green State University.

Library of Congress Internet Resource Page - State and Local Governments                    

Military Regulations, Directives, Instructions, etc.

                   
The best sources for regulations, directives, etc. are listed below. The sources for forms are often linked from these sites.
                               

National Security Strategy For Homeland Security [Oct. 2007]

OECD Statistics Directorate

Presidential Directives and Where To Find Them
Presidential directives are signed or authorized by the President. They are issued by the National Security Council. Many recent ones are classified. This guide from the Library of Congress will help you find the unclassified ones available on the internet.

Statistical Abstract of the United States
Use this link to access Statistical Abstract from 1878 - present.

THOMAS
Acting under the directive of the leadership of the 104th Congress to make Federal legislative information freely available to the Internet public, a Library of Congress team brought the THOMAS World Wide Web system online in January 1995.

U. of Michigan Documents Center

U.S. National Security Strategy [March 2006]

USA.Gov
For all things governmental.