Watchdog urges DHS to review Microsoft contracts over ex-FBI official’s ‘shadow government’ remark

EXCLUSIVE — A new letter from a government watchdog urged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to review the department’s contracts with Microsoft, citing the company’s employment of a former FBI official who once said she was “basically running a shadow government across the FBI.”Democracy Restored, a self-described nonpartisan watchdog, sent Mullin a letter Tuesday asking the Department of Homeland Security to examine Microsoft’s existing and pending contracts, assess whether former FBI official Nikki Floris has a role connected to DHS work, and take action if the department identifies security concerns, according to a copy obtained by the Washington Examiner.Floris gained public attention in mid-July after President Donald Trump‘s speech on U.S. election integrity issues, where he referenced a former FBI official who said she was running a “shadow government” to keep intelligence concerning alleged Chinese election interference from becoming known. Trump did not identify Floris by name in the speech, though her identity emerged in the White House’s records release following the July 16 speech.The group’s request outlines concerns surrounding the bureau’s handling of a 2020 intelligence report, which contained an unverified source allegation but concerned claims that Chinese officials were producing fraudulent U.S. driver’s licenses for a mail-in ballot scheme.Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, notably revealed last year that FBI headquarters recalled the report shortly after its dissemination and identified Floris, then the FBI’s election-security lead, as among the headquarters officials involved in the recall.The committee said FBI officials had raised concerns that the report could conflict with then-FBI Director Christopher Wray‘s congressional testimony, where he claimed he would “investigate seriously” and “aggressively” any allegations of a “coordinated national voter fraud effort.”The released records also included a message attributed to Floris in which she wrote that she was “basically running a shadow government across the FBI” in reference to the bureau’s decision to recall the report.Floris, a former senior counterintelligence official, later served as intelligence analyst in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Intelligence Division. She now works as Microsoft’s director of insider risk, which Democracy Restored argued is a potential risk to national security information in and of itself.“National security includes data security, full stop,” Democracy Restored Director Houston Keene said in a statement. “Given Ms. Floris’ alleged withholding of critical election information from the President of the United States and claim of running a ‘shadow government,’ as well as Microsoft’s recent issues using China-based engineers to work on Pentagon data, serious scrutiny needs to be given to Microsoft’s contracts with the federal government.”Microsoft said in July 2025 that it would stop using China-based engineering teams to provide technical assistance for Defense Department cloud services, following reports that the company had used the arrangement under U.S.-based supervision.In its letter, Democracy Restored asks DHS to determine the nature and sensitivity of systems, data, and facilities involved in the department’s Microsoft contracts; assess Floris’s role, if any, in DHS-related work; and consider terminating, suspending, or conditioning relevant contracts if a review finds concerns.WHO IS NIKKI FLORIS? EX-FBI OFFICIAL BEHIND TRUMP’S ‘SHADOW GOVERNMENT’ REMARK“An official who allegedly withheld China-related election intelligence from the president of the United States now occupies a role charged with judging insider threats at a federal government vendor,” the letter states.DHS and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment. Floris could not be reached for comment.You can read the letter in full below: