Re : auditing cloud providers / higher security or assurance infrastructure.<p>1) If you bring enough money to the table, you can get them to let you in the doors and look at whatever you might want.<p>2) Rackspace ( <a href="http://www.rackspace.com/blog/compliance-standards-and-regulations-that-keep-the-cloud-secure/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rackspace.com/blog/compliance-standards-and-regul...</a> ) (and others) currently hold audit certifications and will sometimes show the certification reports. Some things to look for: SSAE16 SOC 1,2,3 (type 1 and 2) , PCI/DSS , ISO 27001, etc.<p>3) AWS is setting up a .gov region. I'm guessing that this will have a higher security bar than the rest of the regions.<p>4) google is rumored to have a Fort Meade presence, I would guess that the average googler wouldn't be allowed to use that infrastructure.<p>5) Rather than renting from a single cloud, for higher security installations someone like Booze Allen Hamilton would help you build out and run a more custom solution rather than take a share of a pooled resource.