WordNet
n. an administrative unit of government; "the Central Intelligence Agency"; "the Census Bureau"; "Office of Management and Budget"; "Tennessee Valley Authority" [syn: agency, federal agency, bureau, office, authority]
Wikipedia
A government or state agency, often an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types. Although usage differs, a government agency is normally distinct both from a department or ministry, and other types of public body established by government. The functions of an agency are normally executive in character, since different types of organizations (such as commissions) are most often constituted in an advisory role—this distinction is often blurred in practice however.
A government agency may be established by either a national government or a state government within a federal system. The term is not normally used for an organization created by the powers of a local government body. Agencies can be established by legislation or by executive powers. The autonomy, independence and accountability of government agencies also vary widely.
Usage examples of "government agency".
Every government agency would want its piece of the gold-and-oil pie, each with its needs, all of them presented by its own minister as vital to the security of the state, in white papers of brilliant logic and compelling reasoning.
An obscure government agency that operates out of a small basement room in the white House.
An obscure government agency that operatesout of a small basement room in the white House.
The State Department was, in fact, the only government agency that was leery of the TRA, though its concerns had stayed within the family, as it were.
He'd been in the spook business too long, and while he hadn't been burned per se, the East Bloc had pretty much guessed which government agency he worked for by the end of his stay in Warsaw, where he'd run a very tight shop and winkled out a lot of good political intelligence.
Each of them will have the same orders from this office: to take charge of his or her department, to establish priorities, and to make every government agency run efficiently.
The FBI was more jealous of its public relations than any government agency, and Shaw's problem was simply that to fire S-A-C Walt Hoskins would look bad.
It is like sending a robber into the government agency which prints the money.
The FBI was more jealous of its public relations than any government agency, and Shaw's problem was simply that to fire SAC Walt Hoskins would look bad.
That means the Americans have one, possibly more of those infernal machines out there, being operated by some secret government agency.
It was a list of numerical codes with which he could access the computer-stored data of any government agency in the state of Nevada.