In a bombshell revelation that has Washington buzzing, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the discovery — and immediate shutdown — of a decade-old Pentagon program that allowed Chinese nationals to work on sensitive Department of Defense (DoD) cloud systems. The program, innocuously named “Digital Escorts,” was launched during the Obama-Biden administration and quietly continued through years of bureaucratic oversight.
Hegseth, a staunch America First conservative, revealed that for nearly ten years, Microsoft contractors overseeing the program had employed Chinese coders to perform maintenance and support tasks on classified DoD networks — systems that handle highly sensitive national security information.
Speaking from the Pentagon, Hegseth did not mince words.
“The program was designed to comply with contracting rules, but it exposed the department to unacceptable risk,” he said. “If you’re thinking America First and using common sense, this doesn’t pass either of those tests.”
The discovery of Chinese involvement in America’s digital defense systems sent shockwaves through the military and cybersecurity communities. Hegseth made clear that this was not a minor technical oversight but a massive breach of trust that put U.S. national security at risk for the sake of bureaucratic convenience — or worse, corporate profit.
He laid the blame squarely at the feet of previous administrations and the corporate contractors who looked the other way.
“Last month, the Department of Defense was made aware of an Obama-Biden era legacy program called Digital Escorts,” Hegseth said. “For nearly a decade, Microsoft has used Chinese coders, remotely supervised by U.S. contractors, to support sensitive DoD cloud systems. It’s outrageous this was ever allowed.”
Hegseth wasted no time taking action. Within days of the discovery, he ordered a full-scale investigation into the program and demanded accountability from Microsoft.
“We’ve issued a formal letter of concern to Microsoft documenting this breach of trust,” he declared. “And we are requiring a third-party audit of the Digital Escort program, including all code and submissions by Chinese nationals. This audit will be free of charge to the American taxpayer.”
He also directed all DoD software vendors to immediately identify and terminate any Chinese involvement in defense-related contracts — calling it “basic common sense.”
“It blows my mind that I even have to say this,” Hegseth said. “The idea that foreign nationals from a communist regime were touching U.S. military code is unthinkable.”
The secretary closed his statement by tying his actions to President Trump’s broader national security vision.
“Like the President, I’m committed to ensuring that our national security networks are truly secure. This never should have happened, but once we found out about it, we attacked it aggressively,” he said. “This is about America First and protecting our country — period.”
With Hegseth’s decisive action, the days of cozy corporate deals and globalist tech compromises inside the Pentagon may finally be coming to an end. And for once, the American taxpayer won’t be footing the bill for Washington’s mistakes.
