GovCloud // Azure Government Azure Government Dedicated, FedRAMP High-authorized cloud infrastructure for federal, state, and defense workloads. Microsoft Azure Government is a dedicated instance of Azure built specifically for U.S. federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies and their eligible partners. It uses physically isolated datacenters and networks located in the United States, with Microsoft personnel who may access systems processing customer data subject to U.S. citizenship verification and additional screening requirements. Azure Government maintains a FedRAMP High Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) along with DoD Impact Level 2, 4, and 5 Provisional Authorizations. It is designed to support CUI, export-controlled data, and other sensitive government workloads when the applicable Azure services, configurations, and customer controls are in scope. The infrastructure is authorized. Getting your tenant configured, governed, and defensible is the part that takes real work, and that's where Sentinel Blue comes in.
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FedRAMP High JAB-issued P-ATO for Azure Government US Gov regions
DoD IL2 / IL4 / IL5 Provisional Authorizations issued by DISA
U.S. Infrastructure Physically isolated U.S. datacenters and screened Microsoft personnel for potential access to customer-data systems
What Is Microsoft Azure Government?
Microsoft Azure Government is a dedicated cloud environment, physically and logically separate from commercial Azure, built to meet the security and compliance requirements of U.S. federal, state, local, and tribal governments and their eligible partners. It provides infrastructure, platform, and selected software services using the same underlying Azure technologies as commercial Azure, including compute, storage, networking, databases, analytics, and other cloud services. Service availability and features vary by government region and authorization scope. Azure Government is infrastructure. It is not, by itself, Microsoft 365, and it is not automatically compliant just because you deployed into it. It is the authorized foundation you build a compliant environment on top of.
Azure Government Regions
Azure Government includes three general US Gov regions and two additional regions reserved exclusively for Department of Defense use.
US Gov Regions Arizona, Texas, Virginia Intended for U.S. federal (including DoD), state, and local government use, along with their partners. Authorized for FedRAMP High and DoD Impact Levels 2, 4, and 5.
US DoD Regions DoD Central, DoD East These regions are reserved exclusively for Department of Defense use and carry a separate DoD Impact Level 5 Provisional Authorization. They are part of the isolated Azure Government environment but have a distinct IL5 authorization scope from the US Gov regions.
Azure Government Was First to IL5 In January 2017, Azure Government became the first hyperscale cloud platform to receive a DoD Impact Level 5 Provisional Authorization from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), later expanded to cover all US Gov regions in December 2018.
Authorizations & Compliance
Azure Government carries some of the highest civilian and defense cloud authorizations available, giving your organization a defensible starting point for regulated workloads. Authorization scope varies by service, and some IL5 workloads require additional isolation and configuration.
FedRAMP High Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO), issued by the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board
DoD Impact Level 2, 4, and 5 Provisional Authorizations, issued by DISA
Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) support
HIPAA support for health data workloads
NIST SP 800-171 and DFARS 252.204-7012 alignment for CUI
ITAR and export-control support through U.S. data residency and U.S.-person access commitments available under applicable Microsoft agreements
IL4 covers Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and other sensitive unclassified data at the applicable impact level. IL5 accommodates CUI requiring a higher level of protection and unclassified National Security Systems data. Some Azure Government services require additional compute or storage isolation configuration for IL5 workloads. Classified Secret-level workloads (IL6) are out of scope for Azure Government and require Azure Government Secret, a separate offering with a DoD IL6 Provisional Authorization.
Commercial, Government, or Secret?
Which Azure environment you need depends on the data you handle and who needs access to it.
Environment Best Fit Compliance Ceiling
Azure Commercial General business workloads and regulated workloads when commercial Azure services and customer requirements are appropriate FedRAMP High is available for in-scope services in U.S. Azure public regions; commercial Azure does not provide the same U.S.-person access commitments as Azure Government.
Azure Government Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies and eligible partners handling CUI, export-controlled data, and other regulated workloads FedRAMP High; DoD IL2, IL4, and IL5. Authorization scope varies by service, and additional isolation or access requirements may apply.
Azure Government Secret DoD and federal classified workloads requiring Secret-level cloud services DoD IL6. Access and tenancy are subject to sponsoring-agency and classified-environment requirements.
GCC High is a separate Microsoft 365 government cloud environment that uses Microsoft U.S. Government cloud infrastructure and Microsoft Entra Government identity services. Choosing Azure Government does not automatically include GCC High, and choosing GCC High does not require you to separately manage Azure Government infrastructure unless your workloads need Azure services directly.
The GovCloud Platform
Azure Government is one piece of a larger GovCloud environment. Sentinel Blue works across the full Microsoft government cloud stack, so your infrastructure, productivity tools, and security tooling are built and managed together.
You Are Here Azure Government Dedicated, FedRAMP High and DoD IL2/IL4/IL5-authorized cloud infrastructure, subject to service scope and configuration requirements.
GovCloud Microsoft 365 Productivity and collaboration tools licensed for GCC or GCC High. Learn More → GovCloud GCC High The Microsoft 365 environment built to support CUI, ITAR, and other regulated government data. Learn More → GovCloud Microsoft Sentinel Cloud-native SIEM and security monitoring for your GovCloud environment. Learn More →
What Sentinel Blue Provides
Sentinel Blue supports the full lifecycle of Azure Government adoption for the Defense Industrial Base and government agencies, from architecture through migration, hardening, and ongoing managed operations.
Azure Government tenant provisioning and architecture planning
Workload and cloud migration from commercial Azure or on-premises infrastructure
Identity and access management with Microsoft Entra ID Government
Azure Policy and security baseline configuration mapped to applicable FedRAMP and DoD control requirements
Hybrid cloud configuration for organizations with on-premises systems
Disaster recovery and operational continuity planning
AI and machine learning enablement using Azure Government services within the applicable FedRAMP High or DoD IL4/IL5 authorization scope
Ongoing managed security operations and monitoring
This is not a one-time deployment. Azure Government environments need to be configured, governed, and monitored continuously to stay defensible as your workloads, contracts, and personnel change.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Microsoft Azure Government? Microsoft Azure Government is a dedicated instance of Azure built for U.S. federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies and their eligible partners. It uses physically isolated U.S. datacenters and networks, with Microsoft personnel who may access systems processing customer data subject to U.S. citizenship verification and additional screening requirements.
Is Azure Government the same thing as GCC High? No. Azure Government provides government-focused Azure cloud services, while GCC High is a separate Microsoft 365 government cloud environment. GCC High uses Microsoft U.S. Government cloud infrastructure and Microsoft Entra Government identity services. Azure Government and GCC High are related but distinct offerings.
What compliance authorizations does Azure Government hold? Azure Government maintains a FedRAMP High Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) issued by the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board, along with DoD Impact Level 2, 4, and 5 Provisional Authorizations issued by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). It can also support customer obligations related to CJIS, HIPAA, NIST SP 800-171, DFARS, ITAR, and other frameworks, depending on the services and configurations used.
Can Azure Government host classified or Secret-level data? No. Azure Government supports unclassified workloads through DoD Impact Level 5, including CUI and certain unclassified National Security Systems data. Classified Secret-level (Impact Level 6) workloads require Azure Government Secret, which maintains a DoD IL6 Provisional Authorization.
Who is allowed to access Azure Government? Azure Government is available to U.S. federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies and eligible partners. Microsoft applies U.S. citizenship verification and additional screening to personnel with potential access to systems that process customer data. Additional personnel, workload-isolation, and access restrictions may apply depending on the data type, authorization, contract, and customer requirements.
Does hosting in Azure Government automatically make my organization compliant? No. Azure Government provides an authorized infrastructure and service foundation, but compliance remains a shared responsibility. Your organization still needs to select in-scope services, configure them correctly, document and operate required controls, monitor the environment, and govern access to meet frameworks such as CMMC or NIST SP 800-171.
Get Started Ready to Build on Azure Government? Whether you're standing up a new Azure Government tenant, migrating existing workloads, or inheriting an environment that was never configured to standard, Sentinel Blue can help you build it right and keep it defensible.
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