Next A Pro Public Report Microsoft was using engineers in China to help maintain the cloud computing system for the US Department of Defense, the company said that changes have been made to ensure that it will not happen now.

The current system allegedly trusted “digital escorts” to oversee China-based engineers. But according to Prof. Public, those escorts – American citizens – sometimes there was a lack of technical expertise to monitor engineers properly.

In response to the report, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Xe“Foreign engineers – from any country, certainly including China – should never be allowed to maintain or reach the DOD system.”

On Friday, Microsoft Chief Communications Officer Frank X. Shaw replied: “In response to concerns about American-revised foreign engineers earlier this week, Microsoft has changed our support for US government customers to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance for the Dod government clouds and related services.”