'Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems,' US defense chief says
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth responded swiftly Friday to concerns raised by Sen. Tom Cotton about reports that Microsoft has been using engineers in China to maintain US Department of Defense (DoD) systems.
"Spot on Senator. Agree fully. Our team is already looking into this ASAP," Hegseth wrote on X.
"Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems," he added.
Following media reports that engineers in China are maintaining DOD computer systems under a contract with Microsoft, the Republican senator formally requested that the Pentagon investigate.
"Chinese state-sponsored hacking campaigns have long targeted U.S. officials through Microsoft systems. Now Microsoft is allegedly relying on U.S. citizens serving as 'digital escorts' to supervise these Chinese engineers' activities on DoD systems," Cotton wrote to Hegseth.
Cotton said the US recognizes that China's cyber capabilities pose "one of the most aggressive and dangerous" threats to the country. "DoD must guard against all potential threats within its supply chain, including those from subcontractors.”
The senator asked Hegseth to provide a list of contractors that hire Chinese personnel to provide maintenance or services on DoD systems.
