Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday the end of a program that allowed Chinese engineers to support sensitive Pentagon cloud systems after Microsoft came under scrutiny for taking advantage of the program.
Hegseth shared an update on X with details about the Pentagon’s initial review of the “digital escort” program and Microsoft’s activity after ProPublica reported on Microsoft’s use of China-based engineers and its apparent failure to disclose critical information about it to the federal government.
“It exposed the department to unacceptable risk,” Hegseth said. “The use of Chinese nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments, it’s over.”
The digital escorts are U.S. personnel with security clearances who monitor foreign engineers tasked with handling the Pentagon’s sensitive systems. ProPublica reported that many of the digital escorts lack the expertise necessary to oversee foreign engineers with superior technical skills. Most of them are former military personnel with active security clearances, making them easy to hire for the role.
The Pentagon wrote a letter of concern to Microsoft and initiated a third-party audit of Microsoft’s program with a focus on the code developed by Chinese nationals. Separately, the Pentagon is investigating the digital escort program and the Chinese Microsoft employees who were part of it. The investigations are meant to figure out whether those engineers put things into the code that the Pentagon was not aware of.
All of the Pentagon’s soft vendors will be required to terminate Chinese involvement with Department of Defense systems, Hegseth said.
“We expect vendors doing business with the Department of Defense to put U.S. national security ahead of profit maximization,” Hegseth asserted.
Hegseth believes an aggressive response to Microsoft’s use of Chinese engineers is the “America first” and “common sense” approach to a potentially serious breach of U.S. national security.
“Secretary Hegseth and the Trump Administration are absolutely right to launch a full-scale investigation into Microsoft’s dangerous digital escort program, which could potentially give Chinese nationals access to sensitive military information,” said Michael Lucci, the CEO of State Armor, a watchdog group focused on Chinese influence operations.
Lucci previously called for a congressional investigation into Microsoft’s handling of the digital escort program.
“Microsoft’s gross irresponsibility in creating this vulnerability should be fully exposed, and if laws were broken, those responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.
Alarmed by the involvement of Chinese engineers in maintaining Pentagon systems, congressional lawmakers sent a letter to Microsoft and other large tech companies demanding information about whether their subsea cable systems include Russian or Chinese components.
Cyber warfare has become a common tactic for Chinese espionage over the past ten years. There have been more than 100 documented cases of Chinese cyber espionage in the last decade, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a foreign policy think tank. Since 2021, the U.S. has seen more than 60 cases of Chinese espionage across 20 states, the House Homeland Security Committee found earlier this year.