Haven't heard of the Bureau of the Public Debt before? I bet you've heard of our "products" - like savings bonds and other Treasury securities.

We're a small agency within the Department of the Treasury with a mission as old as our Nation. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States. Essentially, we're here to take care of this borrowing and account for resulting debt.

Traditionally, this "borrowing and accounting" has described us. In a nutshell, we borrow by selling Treasury bills, notes, bonds, TIPS, as well as savings bonds; we pay interest to investors; and, when the time comes to pay back the loans, we redeem investors' securities. Every time we borrow or pay back money, it affects the outstanding debt of the United States. It's important that we keep track of the amount of this debt. You can learn all about our securities and the public debt at TreasuryDirect.gov .

Not too long ago we expanded our mission to include providing administrative and information technology services to other parts of the Federal government. Through our Administrative Resource Center we provide accounting, human resource, procurement, travel, and information technology services to other Federal agencies—both within and outside Treasury. Unlike our securities and accounting programs, we must compete for these customers and, as you might imagine, this competition quite properly keeps us focused on service and efficiency. Find out more at arc.publicdebt.treas.gov.

Our programs serve customers from the largest financial institutions to individual investors and government agencies at the Federal, state and local level. But whether you are here to conduct business with us, interested in our career opportunities or just looking around, we welcome you to the Bureau of the Public Debt.

We hope you enjoy our website and that you find it informative and helpful.

Van Zeck
Commissioner

"The United States debt, foreign and domestic, was the price of liberty. The faith of America has been repeatedly pledged for it... Among ourselves, the most enlightened friends of good government are those whose expectations of prompt payment are the highest. To justify and preserve their confidence; to promote the increasing respectability of the American name; to answer the calls of justice; to restore landed property to its due value; to furnish new resources, both to agriculture and commerce; to cement more closely the Union of the States; to add to their security against foreign attack; to establish public order on the basis of an uprightand liberal policy; these are the great and invaluable ends to be secured by a proper and adequate provision, at the present period, for the support of public credit."

Alexander Hamilton, 1790, First Report on the Public Credit

• Commissioner Zeck's Profile
• Current information on employment opportunities within the Bureau of the Public Debt is available at Jobs at Public Debt (updated daily).