Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared a full-scale investigation into Microsoft for its reliance on Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked engineers in highly sensitive Department of Defense (DoD) cloud contracts.
Hegseth revealed that the scandal traces back nearly a decade to an Obama-Biden era program called “Digital Escorts” — U.S. citizens with clearance, but limited technical expertise — to act as go‑betweens for Chinese engineers.
While initially framed as a “compliance workaround,” the program handed the CCP direct access to some of the most sensitive infrastructure protecting the nation.
According to Hegseth, the Pentagon has issued a formal “matter of concern” to Microsoft, demanding a third-party audit of every line of code and submission tied to the Chinese engineers.
The investigation will examine whether malicious code or backdoors were inserted into U.S. military systems.
He announced that every DoD software vendor must immediately identify and eliminate any Chinese involvement in their systems.
Here’s your transcript cleaned up with correct punctuation for clarity:
Pete Hegseth:
Last month, the Department of Defense was made aware of an Obama-Biden era legacy program called Digital Escorts. For nearly a decade, Microsoft has used Chinese coders, remotely supervised by U.S. contractors, to support sensitive DOD cloud systems.The program was designed to comply with contracting rules, but it exposed the Department to unacceptable risk.
I mean, if you’re thinking America First and common sense—this doesn’t pass either of those tests. So, I initiated an immediate review of this vulnerability, and I want to report our initial findings.
The use of Chinese nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments—it’s over. We’ve issued a formal matter of concern to Microsoft, documenting this breach of trust, and we’re requiring a third-party audit of Microsoft’s Digital Escort program, including the code and the submissions by Chinese nationals. This audit will be free of charge for U.S. taxpayers.
I’m also tasking Department of Defense experts with a separate investigation of the Digital Escort program and the Chinese Microsoft employees who were involved in it. These investigations will help us determine the impact of this workaround. Did they put anything in the code that we didn’t know about?
We’re going to find out.
Additionally, all Department of Defense software vendors will identify and terminate any Chinese involvement in DOD systems. It blows my mind that I’m even saying these things—it’s just common sense—and yet we ever allowed it to happen. That’s why we’re attacking it so hard.
We expect vendors doing business with the Department of Defense to put U.S. national security ahead of profit maximization. I’m committed, like the President is, to ensuring that our national security networks are secure.
Again—it’s America First and it’s common sense. This never should have happened in the first place. But once we found out about it, we’ve attacked it aggressively from the beginning, and we’re going to follow all the way through the tape to make sure that this is addressed.
So, DOD is working in conjunction with our partners and the rest of the federal government to ensure that all U.S. networks are protected.
God bless.
WATCH:
The use of Chinese Nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments is over. pic.twitter.com/jZdcHwKho2
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) August 27, 2025
The post “It’s Over” — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Launches FULL-SCALE INVESTIGATION into Microsoft for Employing CCP-Linked Engineers on U.S. Military and Pentagon Cloud Projects appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.