5 U.S.C. § 3371: Definitions

a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and a territory or possession of the United States; and an instrumentality or authority of a State or States as defined in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (1) and a Federal-State authority or instrumentality; any political subdivision, instrumentality, or authority of a State or States as defined in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1); any general or special purpose agency of such a political subdivision, instrumentality, or authority; and any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act ( 85 Stat. 688 ), which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians and includes any tribal organization as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act; “Federal agency” means an Executive agency, military department, a court of the United States, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Library of Congress, the Botanic Garden, the Government Publishing Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the United States Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, the Office of Technology Assessment, and such other similar agencies of the legislative and judicial branches as determined appropriate by the Office of Personnel Management; and a national, regional, State-wide, area-wide, or metropolitan organization representing member State or local governments; an association of State or local public officials; a nonprofit organization which has as one of its principal functions the offering of professional advisory, research, educational, or development services, or related services, to governments or universities concerned with public management; or a federally funded research and development center. the term ‘employing agency’ means the Federal, State, or local government agency with which the participating employee was employed before an assignment under the Program; the term ‘participating employee’ means an employee who is participating in the Program; and the term ‘Program’ means the employee exchange program established under subsection (b). The President shall establish an employee exchange program between Federal agencies that perform law enforcement functions and agencies of State and local governments that perform law enforcement functions. The Program shall be conducted in accordance with subchapter VI of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code. has been employed by that employing agency for a period of more than 3 years; has had appropriate training or experience to perform the work required by the assignment; has had an overall rating of satisfactory or higher on performance appraisals from the employing agency during the 3-year period before being assigned to another agency under this section; and agrees to return to the employing agency after completing the assignment for a period not less than the length of the assignment. An employee shall enter into a written agreement regarding the terms and conditions of the assignment before beginning the assignment with another agency.”