Microsoft is ending its use of Chinese engineers to help maintain the United States Department of Defense’s computer systems.
Online news outlet ProPublica found that Microsoft had employees in China providing technical assistance to the US military. Although this happened under the supervision of so-called American “digital escorts,” the Chinese workers had access to some of the nation’s most sensitive data and military secrets.
Furthermore, the foreign engineers possessed far more advanced technical skills than their American counterparts, making classified information vulnerable to hacking and espionage.
“We’re trusting that what they’re doing isn’t malicious, but we really can’t tell,” a source told ProPublica.
Microsoft told the news outlet that it had disclosed its practices to the US administration during an authorization process, but government officials don’t seem to remember that they had heard of it.
In response to ProPublica’s report, Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth wrote on X that “foreign engineers, from any country, including of course China, should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems.”
Spot on Senator. Agree fully. Our team is already looking into this ASAP.
undefined Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) July 18, 2025
Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems. https://t.co/gQ9dirjxND
Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft’s Chief Communications Officer, said that the tech company made changes to ensure this will no longer happen:
“In response to concerns raised earlier this week about US-supervised foreign engineers, Microsoft has made changes to our support for US Government customers to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance for DoD Government cloud and related services,” he said.
“We remain committed to providing the most secure services possible to the US government, including working with our national security partners to evaluate and adjust our security protocols as needed.”
In a video posted on X, Hegseth said he was initiating a two-week review to ensure China-based engineers were not working on any other cloud services contracts across the Department of Defense.
He also announced that, effective immediately, China will no longer have any involvement in America’s cloud services and that he will continue to monitor and counter all threats to the nation’s military infrastructure and online networks.
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