Foundational Security, Operational Autonomy and Organizational Privacy are paramount for National Security.

Any country whose Department of Defense is operationally reliant on an(y) external or foreign entity for mission-critical Identity and Access services does not really have operational independence, and thus may not have national security.

The trustworthiness and independent functioning of an organization's Identity and Access services are mission-critical.

The United States Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) securely operates on an independently operable Active Directory

As long as the U.S. Department of Defense operates on Active Directory, it will always continue to possess the three cardinal imperatives of organizational security - foundational security, operational autonomy and organizational privacy.

Active Directory enables the U.S. DoD to have complete operational security, privacy and independence because the functioning, availability and security of mission-critical Identity and Access services, and thus all their primary identities and credentials, are in their complete and autonomous control, and are neither dependent on nor accessible/subvertible by an external entity. Further, all security authentications and authorizations happen internally, and sensitive mission-critical knowledge and control of Who is logging on, when, where, and accessing what stays within the organization.

In contrast, at national defense agencies wherein their primary identities and credentials are stored, managed or secured in an(y) external or foreign (entity's) infrastructure (e.g. the Cloud), the functioning, availability and security of mission-critical Identity and Access services will always be dependent on, accessible to and subvertible by the external or foreign entity, and because security authentications and authorizations happen externally, sensitive, mission-critical knowledge and control will also always be in the hands of, and subvertible by, the external or foreign entity.

As long as the U.S. Department of Defense operates on a trustworthy, independently operable, foundational technology (e.g./i.e. Active Directory), it will continue to have foundational security, operational autonomy and organizational privacy, and the United States of America will have National Security.