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