WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary

Pete Hegseth on Wednesday said the Pentagon has issued a formal

letter of concern after learning that Microsoft ( MSFT ) was using

Chinese nationals to service Pentagon cloud environments, which

he described as "a breach of trust."

"We're requiring a third-party audit of Microsoft's ( MSFT ) digital

escorts program, including the code and the submissions by

Chinese nationals," Hegseth said in a video posted on X.

After a report by investigative journalism publication

ProPublica, Microsoft ( MSFT ) in July said it has ended the practice of

using China-based engineers to provide technical support to the

U.S. military under the supervision of U.S. "digital escorts".