[murphysbooks]

NASA has a nice summary of the rights the government has to contractor created works.[1]

A contractor may claim copyrights, but the government still has a license to the work that allows them under most circumstances to do anything they please (for the public good) with the work (e.g. publish it in the New York Times) and also release copies for reproduction (as long as you reproduce the copy you got directly from the government).

The general counsel of any agency can explain what the agency's rights are for any given work.

[1] https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/531751main_Government%20Data%20Righ...