Pentagon Launches Probe into Microsoft’s Use of Chinese Engineers

(MENAFN) The Pentagon responded urgently Friday to Republican Sen. Tom Cotton’s alarm over reports that Microsoft employed engineers based in China to maintain U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) systems.

“Spot on Senator. Agree fully. Our team is already looking into this ASAP,” Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth declared on X, underscoring the seriousness of the issue. He stressed, “Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems.”

Cotton’s concerns stemmed from media revelations that Chinese engineers were reportedly supporting DoD computer systems under Microsoft contracts. The senator formally demanded the Pentagon launch an investigation.

“Chinese state-sponsored hacking campaigns have long targeted U.S. officials through Microsoft systems. Now Microsoft is allegedly relying on U.S. citizens serving as 'digital escorts' to supervise these Chinese engineers' activities on DoD systems,” Cotton wrote to Hegseth.

Highlighting China’s cyber threat as “one of the most aggressive and dangerous” facing the nation, Cotton insisted that “DoD must guard against all potential threats within its supply chain, including those from subcontractors.” He requested a detailed list of contractors employing Chinese personnel for DoD system maintenance or services.

In response, Microsoft announced policy changes Friday to block China-based engineers from providing technical support to U.S. defense clients.

“In response to concerns raised this week about US-supervised foreign engineers, Microsoft made changes to its support for US Government customers to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance for DoD Government cloud and related services," wrote Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s chief communications officer, on X.

“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,” Shaw added.

Hegseth further revealed the Pentagon had been alerted earlier this week to a “potential vulnerability” in DoD computer systems linked to some tech firms using “cheap Chinese labor” on DoD cloud services. He described the situation as “obviously unacceptable, especially in today's digital threat environment.”

In a video message, Hegseth confirmed that immediate actions were underway to protect the military’s digital infrastructure.

“Today, I'm announcing that China will no longer have any involvement whatsoever in our cloud services. Effective immediately and at my direction, the department will also initiate as fast as we can, a two week review or faster to make sure that what we uncovered isn't happening anywhere else across the DOD,” he stated while signing a directive.

This swift response underscores the Pentagon’s zero-tolerance stance on foreign access to sensitive defense technology amid escalating cyber threats.

MENAFN19072025000045017169ID1109820966