The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) launched what it says is the first enterprise-authorized cloud environment capable of processing Secret/Restricted Data (S/RD), marking a significant step in the agency’s effort to modernize the nation’s nuclear security infrastructure.
Developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the S/RD Enterprise Cloud environment is designed to connect NNSA’s geographically dispersed laboratories, plants, and production sites in a unified secure environment while supporting mission areas including product development, digital engineering, advanced computing and simulation, and secure data analytics.
The new environment allows design and production agencies across the nuclear weapons enterprise to access shared tools while maintaining the security boundaries required for classified nuclear information. NNSA said the enterprise authorization is intended to streamline collaboration across its sites while supporting modernization initiatives.
“A modern, flexible, nuclear enterprise needs seamless integration to build and deliver at the pace the global environment demands,” NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams said in a statement. “Our collaboration with AWS in the establishment of an S/RD enterprise environment will connect our labs, plants, and sites, support real-time collaboration with common tools, and provide access to advanced digital collaboration and computing capabilities.”
According to NNSA, the cloud environment also will host the agency’s inaugural Genesis Mission workloads.
“Our purpose-built government cloud infrastructure ensures that the scientists and engineers safeguarding our national security have the most advanced, secure computing foundation in the world today,” said David Appel, vice president of AWS Global Government, National Security, and Defense.
Separately, speaking today at the AWS Summit in Washington, D.C., AWS Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector Dave Levy said the company committed up to $100 million in cloud credits through two accelerator programs supporting the Department of Energy, national laboratories, research organizations, private-sector partners, the Department of Defense, and the defense industrial base.
Levy also said AWS plans to invest up to $50 billion to expand AI and supercomputing infrastructure across government cloud, Secret, and Top Secret regions, with a goal of delivering 1.3 gigawatts of AI computing capacity.