Microsoft announced that it will no longer allow teams based in China to provide technical support for US Department of Defense systems after an investigation by the independent publication ProPublica revealed a similar practice earlier this week.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that work on the Pentagon's cloud services had been outsourced to engineers based in China, but stressed that from now on "there will be no Chinese involvement whatsoever" in the department's systems.

“Microsoft has made changes to its support for U.S. government customers to ensure that no engineers from China will provide technical support for the Department of Defense’s cloud services and related systems,” company spokesman Frank Shaw wrote in a post on X.

A ProPublica investigation found that engineers in China were involved in supporting Pentagon computer systems, with U.S. teams providing limited and often incompetent oversight, raising serious security concerns.

The next day, Sen. Tom Cotton called on Hegsett to investigate the matter. In response, the defense secretary said he would take action and released a video commenting on the scandal:

“It turns out that some technology companies have been using cheap Chinese labor to support the Department of Defense’s cloud services. This is completely unacceptable, especially in today’s digital threat environment.”

Hegseth said he would order an urgent two-week investigation to determine whether similar practices were being used in other parts of the department.

"We will continue to monitor and counter all threats to our military infrastructure and network security," he said, thanking journalists and citizens who reported the issue. | BGNES