.gov

The domain name .gov is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from the word government, indicating its restricted use by government entities in the United States. The TLD is administered by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security. gov is one of the original six top-level domains, defined in RFC 920. Though "originally intended for any kind of government office or agency", only U.S.-based government entities may register gov domain names, a result of the Internet originating as a U.S. government-sponsored research network. Other countries typically delegate a second-level domain for government operations on their country-code top-level domain (ccTLD); for example, gov.uk is the domain for the Government of the United Kingdom, and gc.ca is the domain for the Government of Canada. The United States is the only country that has a government-specific top-level domain in addition to its ccTLD (us), a direct result of the United States federal government's role in the creation of the Internet. gov domains are registered at get.gov.