FDE Times: FedRAMP, IL4 and IL5 — impact levels shape DoD FDE deployments before you write code

FDE Times (4 November 2026) frames the first week at a US Department of Defense customer around one question: what impact level is this data? That answer, not an API choice, decides where you may deploy, how isolated the environment must be, and who on the team may open a log.

Citing the DoD Cloud Computing SRG and a 2014 DoD CIO memo, the guide treats FedRAMP as the minimum baseline and impact level as how many controls stack on top. IL4 covers CUI and non-critical mission data with US-person access limits; IL5 adds FedRAMP High plus DoD FedRAMP+ and SRG requirements, plus physical separation from non-government tenants. A FedRAMP High PA helps at IL4 but does not equal an IL5 authorization.

For FDEs, the staffing constraint bites early: provider personnel with access to IL4/IL5 data must be US citizens, nationals or persons—legal status, not office location. A worked RAG-over-maintenance-docs example walks authorizing-official classification, environment rebuild, export-control layers, and five scoping questions to put in writing before go-live. Palantir’s government FDSE postings are cited as the clearance-and-onsite pattern this work typically demands.