AWS launches Secret Cloud for industry’s classified workloads

Amazon Web Services on Tuesday announced a new cloud offering designed to run contractor-owned classified workloads, a first for the defense industrial base and select research institutions that historically have had to build and maintain costly on-premesis infrastructure to support classified programs.

The AWS Secret Cloud for Industry, or ASCI, is designed to reduce the provision time for classified environments up to the Secret classification level from months to days, according to Dave Levy, vice president of AWS Public Sector. The cloud is designed for cleared U.S. defense contractors, research institutions, and other organizations in the National Industrial Security Program.

“America’s defense industrial base builds the capabilities that keep this nation safe, and it’s time they have the tools to match the urgency of the mission,” Levy said. “AWS Secret Cloud for Industry puts the full power of cloud computing and AI directly into the hands of the engineers and scientists working on our most sensitive programs. Now, the defense industrial base can innovate at the speed the moment demands, using the same classified infrastructure trusted by the Department of War.”

AWS Secret Cloud for Industry now holds a provisional authorization at the Impact Level 6, or IL6—the standard for Secret-classified information—and leverages the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency compliance framework that cleared contractors and personnel already use for on-premesis classified systems to the cloud.

Northrop Grumman is the first defense contractor to deploy classified workloads on ASCI. Without the purpose-built cloud, their initial workload in the AWS Secret-East Region would have taken months.

“Migrating our critical classified programs to the AWS Secret Cloud for Industry solution fundamentally changes how we develop and scale sensitive programs at speed to deliver when it matters most,” Drew Barnes, vice president of IT infrastructure and operations at Northrop Grumman, said in a statement.

In a press call with reporters in advance of the AWS Summit in Washington, D.C., Levy said there has been “a lot of demand for a solution like this for a long time.”

“I’m excited that we, along with the government and the DIB, have been able to figure it out,” said Levy, crediting the Defense Information Systems Agency and DCSA for their partnership in the yearslong effort. 

During a keynote speech at AWS Summit, Levy also announced the ASCI Accelerator Initiative, providing up to $20 million to qualified DIB contractors, federally funded research and development centers, independent software vendors and system integrators. Levy said the funding will help select organizations migrate classified workloads to the cloud and improve mission outcomes.

That announcement follows a $50 billion investment the company made in November to improve AI and supercomputing infrastructure for U.S. federal agencies.

“We’re also investing up to $50 billion to expand AI and supercomputing infrastructure across all GovCloud, secret and top-secret regions,” Levy said. “The goal is to provide 1.3 gigawatts of AI capacity, making a generational commitment to the future of government that government runs on secure, intelligent cloud.”

A 15-year focus on government

AWS launched AWS GovCloud (US-West) — the first cloud infrastructure designed for government customers—in 2011, providing many federal agencies with their first opportunity to shift workloads to the cloud. In 2013, AWS inked a groundbreaking $600 million contract, C2S, with the CIA to supply commercial cloud services to all 18 intelligence agencies.

The cloud provider later launched its first secret cloud region in 2017. It also operates multiple top-secret regions and has been awarded multiple major, multi-billion dollar contracts, including the C2E contract from the intelligence community, as well as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract for the Defense Department and the National Security Agency’s “Wild and Stormy” contract. Today, nearly all U.S. federal agencies are AWS customers in some capacity, along with some 15,000 government agencies across the globe. 

Last August, AWS worked with the General Services Administration—through its OneGov program—to discount $1 billion worth of its software to customers across the federal government through December 2028. The discounts have provided dividends for AWS.

“We’ve seen not just new agencies [coming to AWS], but agencies already doing business with us accelerate their modernization efforts through the OneGov agreement with GSA,” Levy said in an interview Tuesday.

More investment in the U.S. intelligence community

Following AWS’ OneGov deal, the company engaged the U.S. intelligence community by proposing a similar effort, according to Levy.AWS on Tuesday announced the result of that engagement: an investment of up to $1 billion in cloud credits to help the 18 agencies within the U.S. intelligence community through October 2030 to modernize their IT systems.

“It’s like GSA OneGov, but for the IC,” Levy said. “The same $1 billion opportunity we put forth for OneGov, we wanted to do the same thing for the IC.”

Called the Intelligence Community Accelerated Modernization Framework, or ICAMF, the program makes use of AWS’ existing C2E contract with the U.S. intelligence community to provide credits for qualified workloads “to accelerate cloud migration and modernization” across the IC, according to David Appel, vice president of global government at AWS.

In a statement, Appel said “outcome-based credits based on post-migration value dramatically lower the financial barrier to moving to the cloud.” In addition, he said the investment would accelerate migration timelines, enable mission-critical capabilities and align investment with outcomes.

“The ICAMF supports the Intelligence Community’s strategic priorities to modernize IT infrastructure, improve data interoperability, and adopt advanced technologies at pace with evolving threats,” Appel said. “The program enables agencies to leverage the most advanced cloud capabilities while achieving meaningful cost efficiencies—delivering improved mission outcomes with the speed and agility that national security demands.”