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Interesting, but this isn't the first time any major government site or webapp has been hosted externally.

I was under the impression that generally official websites of the US government had to pass stringent reviews, be them hosted internally or externally. Be that as it may, it's important because you can tell your customers "Hey if EC2 is good enough for the US government it's good enough for you!" :)

Good point. However, http://www.restorethegulf.gov/ (which this article is about) doubtfully needs to pass as stringent a review as, say, something containing more sensitive data that was a little more complicated and crucial than a small Drupal site discussing something that the media considers yesterday's news, even if it is important.

I wouldn't go assuming one of the world's largest bureaucracies practices that sort of common sense.

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