A method, a system, an apparatus, and a computer program product is presented for performing federation protocol operations within a data processing system. A message is received. In response to a determination that subsequent processing of the message requires execution of a first federation protocol operation, the message is filtered against a set of policies to determine a subset of one or more applicable policies. An applicable policy is enforced by performing a second federation protocol operation as indicated by the applicable policy prior to performing the first federation protocol operation. In response to concluding enforcement of the applicable policy, the first federation protocol operation is initiated.