Conservative activists are urging Congress to launch an investigation into Microsoft’s usage of China-based engineers to manage Pentagon servers and its apparent failure to disclose details about it in a security plan explaining how it will protect computer systems.
The activist push is based on ProPublica reporting on Microsoft’s employment of Chinese engineers to work on sensitive Pentagon systems and a follow-up story about Microsoft’s decision not to include details about the China-based engineers in its 2025 security plan for the Pentagon.
“Microsoft’s actions at the Pentagon — ranging from extreme carelessness to borderline treason — warrant a full and immediate investigation from Congress,” said Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, a right-leaning watchdog specializing in Chinese Communist Party influence operations.
“If Microsoft is using China-based engineers to manage our nation’s most sensitive secrets and failing to disclose these facts to Defense Department officials, they are undermining national security and everything else they manage in the federal government must be scrutinized,” Lucci added.
The Pentagon already launched its own investigation into IT contractors’s use of foreign personnel after ProPublica‘s initial report on Microsoft’s reliance on foreign engineers to maintain its cloud systems. A congressional investigation could lead to high-profile hearings and greater scrutiny on Microsoft’s actions than a Pentagon probe, which will likely be secretive with limited public disclosures.
“Microsoft’s deception reveals a disgusting combination of corporate arrogance and cold disregard for America’s national security,” said Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, a consumer advocacy group.
