WikiLeaks: Amazon Atlas Today, 11 October 2018, WikiLeaks publishes a "Highly Confidential" internal document from the cloud computing provider Amazon. The document from late 2015 lists the addresses and some operational details of over one hundred data centers spread across fifteen cities in nine countries Amazon is the leading cloud provider for the United States intelligence community. In 2013, Amazon entered into a $600 million contract with the CIA to build a cloud for use by intelligence agencies working with information classified as Top Secret.  Then, in 2017, Amazon announced the AWS Secret Region, which allows storage of data classified up to the Secret level by a broader range of agencies and companies. Amazon also operates a special GovCloud region for US Government agencies hosting unclassified information. Currently, Amazon is one of the leading contenders for an up to $10 billion contract to build a private cloud for the Department of Defense. Amazon is one of the only companies with the certifications required to host classified data in the cloud. The Defense Department is looking for a single provider and other companies, including Oracle and IBM, have complained that the requirements unfairly favor Amazon. Bids on this contract are due tomorrow. More info on wikiLeaks Here Most Americans think of Amazon as the company that saves them the trouble of going to the mall or has given us the ubiquitous “Alexa” in the Amazon echo. Shockingly, Amazon is the largest sponsor of DC lobbying. Since 2000, Amazon has spent an eye-popping $67 million on lobbying at the federal and state levels. Amazon employees an army of over 100 lobbyists. For Amazon, which has a history of receiving government benefits, has set its eyes on a ten-year contract with the Department of Defense, to move all of their computing into the cloud. This is a single source, winner-takes-all contract. In other words, Amazon will have no competition for ten years for the Pentagon’s data business. Source Here