Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Commerce Department's Technology Administration. NIST's mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. NIST carries out its mission in four cooperative programs:

• the NIST Laboratories, conducting research that advances the nation's technology infrastructure and is needed by U.S. industry to continually improve products and services;
• the Baldrige National Quality Program, which promotes performance excellence among U.S. manufacturers, service companies, educational institutions, healthcare providers, and nonprofit organizations; conducts outreach programs and manages the annual Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award which recognizes performance excellence and quality achievement;
• the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a nationwide network of local centers offering technical and business assistance to smaller manufacturers; and
• the Technology Innovation Program, which is planned to provide cost-shared awards to industry, universities, and consortia for research on potentially revolutionary technologies that address critical national and societal needs.

NIST’s fiscal year 2008 resources total 931.5 million. The agency operates primarily in two locations: Gaithersburg, Maryland (headquarters - 234-hectare/578-acre campus) and Boulder, Colorado (84-hectare/208-acre campus). NIST employs about 2,800 scientists, engineers, technicians, and support and administrative personnel. About 2,600 guest researchers and other NIST associates complement the staff.
NIST/Information Technology Laboratory (ITL)
ITL is one of the measurement and standards laboratories of NIST. ITL’s mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in information technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. ITL formulates metrics, tests, and tools for a wide range of subjects such as information complexity and comprehension, high-confidence software, space-time coordinated mobile and wireless computing, as well as issues of information quality, integrity, and usability. ITL develops the tests and test methods that both the developers and the users of the technology need to objectively measure, compare, and improve their systems. For many years, ITL has been mandated by legislation, most recently the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), to develop cybersecurity standards, guidelines, and associated tools and techniques for the protection of sensitive unclassified information in federal IT systems and networks.
With an operating budget of approximately $85 million for fiscal year 2008, ITL has a staff of about 329 scientists, engineers, technicians, and support personnel, complemented by about 159 guest researchers, at facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland and Boulder, Colorado. The ITL website is http://www.itl.nist.gov .
 News and general information about NIST programs and services are available online at http://www.nist.gov, or by calling General Inquiries at (301) 975-NIST (975-6478), TTY (301) 975-8295 or e-mail: inquiries@nist.gov.

http://www.nist.gov