Microsoft says it will no longer use engineers in China for Department of Defense work

Following a Pro Publica report that Microsoft was using engineers in China to help maintain cloud computing systems for the U.S. Department of Defense, the company said it’s made changes to ensure this will no longer happen.

The existing system reportedly relied on “digital escorts” to supervise the China-based engineers. But according to Pro Publica, those escorts — U.S. citizens with security clearances — sometimes lacked the technical expertise to properly monitor the engineers.

In response to the report, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X, “Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems.”

On Friday, Microsoft’s chief communications officer Frank X. Shaw responded: “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.”