Shawn_Veney
Thank you for the quick response. Your answers point out why this thread is so incredibly important. There is a LOT we (government IT and the end users) don't and seemingly can't know about the interaction of the systems we use. Unfortunately we are the ones ultimately responsible for compliance even when we don't have all the answers and the visibility we need.
The problem with Word translate is a relatively easy one to solve. Don't use it. Sorry. It is attempting to communicate with a blocked country. I don't know WHY. It didn't used to. But it is now. Use the translate service in Outlook instead. It still works for now.
In the case of the Word document communicating with Dublin, that was picked up by our EDR before the firewall noticed it. I guess it is possible that the process associated with the document was actually the application trying to send telemetry data. Unfortunately we can't know that for certain.
I do appreciate your very thorough explanation. Microsoft is certainly not the only company where we experience these types of concerns. As long as the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) continues to hold us accountable, we are going to remain suspicious.