Links to government websites
USFA links to publicly available websites that are government-owned or government-sponsored, unless directed not to by the agency that owns the site. Acceptable federal government-owned or government-sponsored website domains include .gov, .mil and .fed.us.
USFA also links to quasi-government agencies and websites created by public sector/private sector partnerships, state and local government sites (e.g., maryland.gov), and some government-sponsored websites that end in .com, .org, or .net (e.g., usps.com for the U.S. Postal Service).
Links to non-government websites
USFA also links to websites that are not government-owned or government-sponsored if these websites provide government information and/or services in a way that is not available on an official government website. USFA provides these non-government websites as a public service only.
The U.S. government, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/FEMA (the primary sponsoring federal agency of usfa.fema.gov), neither endorses nor guarantees in any way the external organizations, services, advice or products included in these website links. Furthermore, the U.S. government neither controls nor guarantees the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of the information contained in non-government website links.
Evaluation criteria
The USFA staff evaluates all links using the following criteria:
- Is the website an official government-owned or supported website? If not, does the website provide government information and/or services in a way that is not available on an official government website?
- Does the website complement existing information, products and services on usfa.fema.gov?
- Is the website accessible to a wide audience?
- Is the website's content relevant, useful and authoritative for the fire and emergency medical services and/or government officials?
- Does the website's information appear to be accurate and current?
- Is the website's approach to the privacy of personal information consistent with the government's privacy and security policies?
- Is the primary intent of the website to educate and inform, rather than persuade, convert or sell? The site may include advertising but must be free from heavy marketing or promotion of products.
- Does the website provide information free of charge?
Prohibitions
USFA will not link to any website that exhibits hate, bias, discrimination, specific religious views or social agendas. Furthermore, USFA reserves the right to deny or remove any link that contains misleading information, unsubstantiated claims or is determined to be in conflict with USFA’s mission or policies.
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