NGG is designed to support over one million users across 187 Air Force bases globally and to protect information at all classification levels. That scale—and the mix of enterprise, tactical, and classified environments involved—sets a high bar for any ZTNA solution. It must support mission operations, not just compliance objectives.
Operationalizing Zero Trust for NGG
For NGG, Zero Trust is not an abstract framework. It is the basis for how users, including warfighters and enterprise personnel, connect to the resources they need. AppGate ZTNA is purpose-built to support NGG mission requirements by enforcing identity centric, least privilege access across distributed, global, and disconnected environments.
AppGate CEO, Leo Taddeo, has described NGG as ‘redefining how Zero Trust is operationalized at scale.’ In practice, that means Zero Trust policies are applied consistently whether a user is on a base with robust connectivity, operating in a degraded environment, or working from a remote or tactical location.
The Air Force expects NGG to help it:
- Ensure interoperability with its mission partners
- Increase its lethality
- Secure its warfighters and enterprise users
AppGate’s ZTNA capabilities are aligned to those outcomes rather than treating Zero Trust as a standalone or siloed security initiative.
Keeping Enforcement Within the Mission Boundary
A central design point for NGG is keeping security enforcement as close to the mission as possible. AppGate ZTNA dynamically establishes direct-routed, encrypted connections between authorized users and approved resources, while remaining invisible to unauthorized actors.
This approach keeps policy enforcement within the mission boundary, which has several operational advantages identified in the approved materials:
- It delivers superior performance by avoiding unnecessary backhauling of traffic.
- It reduces the attack surface by not exposing network infrastructure broadly.
- It maintains mission continuity, even when conditions are degraded or disconnected.
For NGG, those characteristics are critical. They allow the Air Force to apply Zero Trust principles without creating new bottlenecks in global operations or introducing dependencies that might fail under contested or low-bandwidth conditions.
Mission-Aligned Access Control
The Air Force's NGG must serve a wide range of users and missions, from baselevel enterprise functions to forward-leaning operational roles. A single, perimeter-based model cannot meet that requirement. Instead, the program leans on identity-centric, least privilege access.
AppGate’s ZTNA solution bases access decisions on user identity, assigned permissions, and defined policies for specific applications and resources. Access is tightly scoped, so users connect only to what they are explicitly authorized to use, rather than gaining broad network-level visibility.
This approach directly supports NGG’s objectives to secure both warfighters and enterprise users while maintaining operational effectiveness. It also supports the Air Force’s need to operate across multiple classification levels without compromising segmentation or control.
Supporting Mission Partners and Joint Operations
NGG is being deployed in an environment where mission partners are integral to daily operations. Interoperability with those partners is a stated requirement of the program, not a secondary benefit.
Zero Trust Network Access helps address this requirement by focusing on controlled resource access instead of extending network perimeters. With AppGate ZTNA, partners can be granted policy-driven access to specific systems or data sets without being placed directly on Air Force networks, which helps limit exposure while still enabling collaboration.
For NGG, this means missions can include joint and coalition participants under consistent access controls, aligned with the Air Force’s broader Zero Trust strategy.
Certified for High Assurance Defense Use
Because NGG operates in sensitive and classified environments, the technologies it relies on must meet rigorous federal standards. AppGate’s ZTNA solution is certified by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), which validates compliance with U.S. government security requirements.
This certification reinforces the solution’s suitability for government and defense deployments where high assurance is mandatory. It also supports NGG’s role as a major Zero Trust modernization effort within the Department of Defense, where independently validated solutions are expected.
The NGG task order awarded to GDIT underscores the Air Force’s commitment to advancing Zero Trust architectures that integrate identity, datacentric security, and advanced threat detection in line with the Department of Defense’s Zero Trust objectives and its 2027 mandate timeline.
A Foundation for the Air Force’s Zero Trust Path
As the Air Force and its mission partners accelerate Zero Trust adoption, programs like NGG are setting the practical foundation for how those architectures will operate across the department. AppGate’s role is focused on enabling secure, scalable access that supports mission continuity and national security priorities, using an approach that is already approved, certified, and tailored to defense requirements.
In that sense, NGG is more than a single program. It is a reference point for how Zero Trust can be implemented across large, globally distributed environments in a way that is aligned with federal standards and operational realities.
See how the Air Force is redefining Zero Trust at mission scale with AppGate ZTNA. Read the official press release.