Renee Dudley, with research by Doris Burke ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Microsoft is using engineers in China to help maintain the Defense Department’s computer systems — with minimal supervision by U.

National security experts expressed alarm over Microsoft's practices allowing China-based engineers access to Pentagon cloud systems after a ProPublica investigation.

Microsoft has relied on engineers based in China for years to help maintain some of the U.S. Department of Defense’s