Overview

• Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s chief communications officer, announced the company has ceased all technical assistance from China-based engineering teams for Defense Department cloud and related services.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a rapid, two-week review of Pentagon cloud service contracts to root out any foreign personnel handling sensitive military systems.
• Senator Tom Cotton has demanded a full accounting of Defense Department contractors that employ Chinese engineers and details on how U.S. “digital escorts” are trained to detect suspicious activity.
• The digital escort framework, launched by Microsoft in 2016 under the JEDI program, relied on U.S. subcontractors with security clearances but often lacked the technical expertise to vet overseas code changes.
• Lawmakers and security experts say the episode underscores enduring vulnerabilities in defense supply chains and heightens U.S.–China cyber competition over military networks.