The United States Government Manual 2005/2006, Preface, Contents

• Pages: i-ix

The United States Government Manual

2005/2006

Office of the Federal Register

National Archives and Records Administration

Revised June 1, 2005

Raymond A. Mosley,

Director of the Federal Register.

Allen Weinstein,

Archivist of the United States.

On the cover: Marking 70 years of providing ready access to essential Federal Government records, the cover displays an image of the National Archives Building during the Red, White, and Blue Nighttime Illumination Event on September 17, 2003, and a montage of covers from the 70-year history of the Federal Register.

The records preserved by the National Archives and Records Administration (National Archives) and the documents published in the Federal Register are essential to understanding and protecting our democratic system of government. Those records and documents form the tangible thread linking the power exercised by Federal agencies to its source in ``We the People.'' Providing access to these records and documents--be they the oldest Charters of Freedom enshrined in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building or the newest Federal regulations published in today's Federal Register--ensures that our government remains one of laws, not of whims.

Recognizing the urgent need to modernize the physical means of preserving those records, Congress appropriated more than $96 million in

1999 for extensive renovation of the National Archives Building. The renovation included re-encasing the Charters--the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights; improving public outreach and exhibit space; completing replacement of deteriorated building systems; making the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act; and improving storage conditions for archival records and security and safety features. In addition, private donations funded the new William G. McGowan Theater and the restoration of historic murals in the Rotunda. Seventy years after first opening, the National Archives Building is once again a state-of-the-art facility where the archives of the United States are explained through a wide variety of public events, samples of the Nation's documentary history are exhibited, and in-depth research and ongoing discovery of the treasures within the National Archives are promoted.

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area

(202) 512-1800

Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001

ISBN 0-16-051455-X

The Federal Register has been published every Federal business day since March 19, 1936, to provide public notice of the regulatory activities of the Federal executive branch agencies and of official Presidential and executive branch documents. Final rules published in the Federal Register are ultimately codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, another publication of the Office of the Federal Register which is located within the National Archives. Before the advent of these two publications 70 years ago, American citizens had no single, authoritative source of information about their legal rights and responsibilities under Federal agency programs.

We thank Creative Services at the U.S. Government Printing Office and Special Media Preservation at the National Archives and Records Administration for their contributions in...