A has not been the authoritative source for .GOV for a while. Check G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.

Check WHOIS, it lists a.root-servers.net as a name server. Registrant: Government (US Federal) top-level domain (GOV-DOM) General Services Administration Center for Electronic Messaging Technologies 1800 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20405 Domain Name: GOV Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Borgoyne, Gary (GB260) gary.borgoyne@FED.GOV 202-501-6824 202-501-1337 Record last updated on 02-Oct-97. Record created on 01-Jan-85. Database last updated on 21-Sep-98 04:08:47 EDT. Domain servers in listed order: A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 198.41.0.4 H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 128.63.2.53 B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 128.9.0.107 C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 192.33.4.12 D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 128.8.10.90 E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 192.203.230.10 I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 192.36.148.17 F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 192.5.5.241 G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET 192.112.36.4 whois: whois.nic.gov web: www.nic.gov email: registrar@nic.gov To see this host record with registered users, repeat the command with a star ('*') before the name; or, use '%' to show JUST the registered users. The InterNIC Registration Services database contains ONLY non-military and non-US Government Domains and contacts. Other associated whois servers: American Registry for Internet Numbers - whois.arin.net European IP Address Allocations - whois.ripe.net Asia Pacific IP Address Allocations - whois.apnic.net US Military - whois.nic.mil US Government - whois.nic.gov Besides even if it wasn't also server the domain, the root-servers should still return the NS records of the servers that are servering top-level domains. See for example the DIG for the SG top level domain. # dig @198.41.0.4 sg. ns ; <<>> DiG 2.2 <<>> @198.41.0.4 sg. ns ; (1 server found) ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10 ;; flags: qr rd; Ques: 1, Ans: 5, Auth: 0, Addit: 5 ;; QUESTIONS: ;; sg, type = NS, class = IN ;; ANSWERS: sg. 172800 NS DNSSEC1.SINGNET.COM.sg. sg. 172800 NS AUTH02.NS.UU.NET. sg. 172800 NS NS.RIPE.NET. sg. 172800 NS DS.NIC.NET.sg. sg. 172800 NS NS1.PACIFIC.NET.sg. ;; ADDITIONAL RECORDS: DNSSEC1.SINGNET.COM.sg. 172800 A 165.21.83.11 AUTH02.NS.UU.NET. 172800 A 198.6.1.82 NS.RIPE.NET. 172800 A 193.0.0.193 DS.NIC.NET.sg. 172800 A 202.42.194.205 NS1.PACIFIC.NET.sg. 172800 A 192.169.33.3 ;; Total query time: 253 msec ;; FROM: drgate.dra.com to SERVER: 198.41.0.4 ;; WHEN: Mon Sep 21 18:58:24 1998 ;; MSG SIZE sent: 20 rcvd: 237 -- Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO Affiliation given for identification not representation