CNA and Cloudforce deploy trusted AI to advance national security work
As global threats evolve and national security challenges grow more complex, defense organizations are mobilizing to deliver faster insights, adapt to emerging technologies, and maintain the highest standards of data protection. In that effort, AI is reshaping how agencies respond to crises, model future risks, and support decision-making. Deploying AI securely in high-compliance environments remains a challenge.
Nonprofit organization CNA, a federally funded research and development center and analysis organization, supports the safety and security of the United States through its two main divisions: the Center for Naval Analyses and the Institute for Public Research. With more than 700 scientists, analysts, and professional staff, CNA works across classified and unclassified domains to deliver insights for agencies including the US Navy, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FEMA, and Health and Human Services (HHS).
With so much data to interpret and so much at stake, CNA sought a way to safely and securely accelerate their insights with the power of AI and large language models (LLMs). Not just any solution would work. They needed a trusted partner to help them implement models that prioritized the protection of such sensitive data.
They turned to Cloudforce, a Microsoft partner with deep expertise in Microsoft Azure and a track record of enabling high-compliance environments. Cloudforce helps customers build scalable, secure solutions that meet the most stringent federal standards—making them the perfect partner to help CNA.
A mission-critical need for compliant, creative AI
Research and analysis at CNA spans some of the most sensitive domains in government, from maritime warfare and autonomous systems to disaster response and law enforcement. With many of the agencies they serve asking for an increasing number of reports to tackle these real-world challenges, CNA saw the potential to use emerging LLM technology to rapidly scour their vast datasets and generate insights. However, given their mandate to protect information within strict compliance frameworks, using public LLMs was out of the question.
“We wanted a partner to help us to deploy an LLM that is secure and compliant so that it can handle our internal data,” said Gregor Goodman, Chief Technology Officer at CNA. “We needed to balance innovation with security to take advantage of cutting-edge tools in the analysis that we’re providing.”
Microsoft referred CNA to Cloudforce, and the partnership was fast, powerful, and collaborative from the start. Together, the companies explored a plan to develop proprietary LLMs and agents that were easy for analysts to use and could securely deploy CNA’s data in creative ways.
“Working with Cloudforce has been phenomenal,” said Rizwan Jan, Chief Information Officer at CNA. “I look at them as not just an extension of the CNA team. They're friends now. They're trusted .... If we have a question, they bring out the entire crew to help us.”
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