Microsoft Corporation has announced a policy shift that will bar engineers based in China from contributing to its work on cloud computing systems maintained for the United States Department of Defense (DoD), following a report by investigative outlet ProPublica that raised national security concerns.
The report, published earlier this week, revealed that Microsoft had been relying on China-based engineering teams to assist with technical maintenance for sensitive government cloud systems used by the Pentagon.
While the company said these engineers operated under the supervision of “digital escorts” — U.S. citizens with security clearances — the watchdog alleged that the escorts often lacked the requisite technical expertise to effectively monitor the foreign workers.
The revelations sparked criticism from senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to condemn the practice.
“Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems,” Hegseth stated.
In a statement issued on Friday, Microsoft’s Chief Communications Officer Frank X. Shaw said the company had taken steps to rectify the situation.
“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,” Shaw noted.
Microsoft, one of the top cloud service providers contracted by U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, had previously used an internal supervision model for international engineers working on government-related infrastructure. However, experts have warned that such arrangements may pose national security vulnerabilities, especially when involving countries with adversarial relations with Washington.
The development comes amid heightened U.S.-China tensions over technology, cybersecurity, and espionage, with both countries imposing stricter controls on cross-border digital cooperation. It also adds to the ongoing debate over how U.S. tech giants balance global workforce distribution with national security obligations.
While Microsoft has not disclosed how many engineers were involved or when the practice began, the company emphasized that the recent changes are part of an evolving effort to bolster compliance with federal standards and safeguard critical infrastructure.
