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

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/paper-trail-7800276/how-microsoft-s-little-workaround-created-a-major-pentagon-threat
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/paper-trail-7800276/how-microsoft-s-little-workaround-created-a-major-pentagon-threat.md
Podcast: [Paper Trail](https://stenobird.com/podcast/paper-trail-7800276)
Published: 2026-07-09T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.propublica.org/podcast/microsoft-digital-escorts-china-defense-department
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/swap.fm/track/sblTq32fyWAjsHzze2LG/dovetail.prxu.org/16890/f91c8e1d-66c3-4915-a640-1ad9dfbffafa/PAPER-TRAIL_Digital-Escorts_MIX_v07.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/paper-trail-7800276/episodes/how-microsoft-s-little-workaround-created-a-major-pentagon-threat
Duration seconds: 2031

## Resource

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 More: www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-digital-escorts-pentagon-defense-department-china-hackers Support our journalism by donating at propublica.org/donate .

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## Transcript

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