How Microsoft’s “Little Workaround” Created a Major Pentagon Threat

https://www.propublica.org/podcast/microsoft-digital-escorts-china-defense-department

How Microsoft’s “Little Workaround” Created a Major Pentagon Threat

Reporter Renee Dudley heard Microsoft was running tech support for the U.S. Defense Department through China, the country’s biggest cybersecurity adversary. She thought it sounded like a conspiracy theory — until she started looking into it.

hosted by Jessica Lussenhop, with reporting by Renee Dudley and research by Doris Burke

July 9, 2026, 7:50 am

Description

A source told reporter Renee Dudley something she found hard to believe: that Microsoft was running tech support for the Department of Defense through China, the country’s biggest cybersecurity adversary. The arrangement was called “digital escorting.” She thought it sounded like a conspiracy theory — until she started looking into it. This is the story of what she found and how her investigation changed government policy.

Read the original story here.