About state.govBureau of Public Affairs The www.state.gov website serves as the State Department’s portal of information on U.S. foreign policy and information about the State Department. It is managed by the Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. The current State Department website covers the Administrations of President George W. Bush since he first took office on January 19, 2001. The www.state.gov archive site provides content available online prior to that date. The archive site is not updated, and external links may no longer function; it provides publications and information from the State Department for archive and research purposes. A few State Department bureaus/offices have websites that are maintained separately from the www.state.gov portal site managed by the Office of Electronic Information. Nonetheless, the www.state.gov website search results include those sites, and PA/EI coordinates release of information on those websites to ensure that it is linked with the main www.state.gov site. The following sites are not included in the “What’s New” listing in www.state.gov: -- travel.state.gov (information on travel abroad) Websites of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other posts abroad (listed at http://usembassy.state.gov ) are managed by those posts. Privacy Notice For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, the State Department uses software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and subject to prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and Title 18 U.S.C. Sec.1001 and 1030. Information also may be used for authorized law enforcement investigations. Except for the above purposes, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. If you are using a form to provide information to the State Department, that information also is used only for the purposes stated above. External Linking Policy Criteria. State Department officers continually review the external links for their ongoing value to the issues and topics presented within State Department websites. The process for adding an external link is the same as for clearing information for public dissemination, as described in the State Department’s Information Quality Guidelines:
Disclaimer. The State Department provides external links solely for our readers' information and convenience. When readers select a link to an external website, they are leaving the www.state.gov site and are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the external website. The State Department:
Every effort has been made to provide accurate and complete information. However, we cannot guarantee that there will be no errors. Neither the U.S. Government or the State Department assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process disclosed herein, or represents that use of such information, product, or process would not infringe on privately owned rights. Information Quality Guidelines Copyright Information If a copyright is indicated on a photo, graphic, or other material, permission to copy these materials must be obtained from the original source. For photos without captions or with only partial captions, hold your cursor over the photo to view the "alt tag" for any copyright information. Please note that many photos used on this website are copyrighted. If you would like verification or a hard copy of information released on State Department websites or if you have any questions or comments about the information presented here, please contact the public information staff in the Bureau of Public Affairs. Public Communication Division Although the Secretary of State is custodian of the Seal, the Department of State has no authority to grant or withhold permission for use of reproductions, facsimiles, or likenesses of the Seal, or any part thereof. It depends on the circumstances in each case whether the particular use of the Seal would be improper and, as such, it is a function of the Department of Justice to determine whether any particular use violates the Statute. Consequently, the Department of State's policy has been to discourage use of the Great Seal, except when used for governmental or educational purposes, and the Department does not provide artwork for its use other than for official State Department material. Contact us if you have any questions on use of the Great Seal or other official insignia. |