Overview

• Sen. Tom Cotton sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requesting detailed lists of contractors employing China-based Microsoft engineers and information on how U.S. digital escorts are vetted and trained.
• Hegseth said he fully agrees with Cotton’s concerns and has initiated an immediate DoD-wide review of foreign engineer access to military cloud systems.
• ProPublica reported that many U.S. digital escorts lack the technical expertise needed to identify malicious code introduced by supervised offshore engineers.
• Microsoft maintains that it disclosed its use of China-based support personnel to U.S. authorities during the defense contract authorization process.
• Experts warn that China’s national intelligence laws could compel domestic firms to assist state-sponsored cyber operations, heightening risks within DoD supply chains.