The Department of Homeland Security has ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek AI products from IT systems and barred future procurements, citing cybersecurity risks.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered federal civilian executive branch agencies to immediately remove artificial intelligence (AI) products and services developed by Chinese AI company DeepSeek from their IT systems. The directive also prohibits future procurements of the technology, including third-party products and services built using DeepSeek implementations.
The order covers products and services developed by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., its affiliates, and third-party offerings built using DeepSeek implementations. According to a notice filed with the Federal Register on Oct. 19, the restrictions apply to federal civilian executive branch agencies but exclude procurements by the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, as well as national security systems.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will oversee implementation through its FASCSA Order Implementation Team. During the removal process, DHS advised agencies to monitor network traffic, increase logging, implement data loss prevention controls, and take other measures to reduce the risk of data exfiltration.
DHS made the order public on Oct. 19, though the restrictions had already taken effect in late July after DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin signed the order on July 24 under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018 (FASCSA).
“DeepSeek presents multiple threat vectors that pose significant risk to the cybersecurity of U.S. government systems,” DHS said in the signed order.
The department cited DeepSeek’s collection and storage of user data in China, the transmission of user prompts and AI-generated responses to servers in the People’s Republic of China, and security and privacy vulnerabilities identified through forensic analyses. According to DHS, those practices could expose sensitive information about U.S. users and government programs. The department also warned that DeepSeek models could generate inaccurate, biased, or harmful content.
This move follows similar actions within agencies to limit government usage of DeepSeek products. The Commerce Department last year barred DeepSeek from government devices, and the U.S. Navy last year ordered all members not to use DeepSeek due to potential security concerns.
DeepSeek’s open-weight models rival domestic frontier models, but at a lower cost. It is also one of several Chinese AI companies that federal agencies have targeted over alleged distillation attacks on U.S. frontier models.
The DHS order marks a significant escalation in the U.S. government's approach to Chinese AI vendors, applying supply-chain security laws previously used for hardware and traditional software to generative AI models. By extending the ban to third-party services built on DeepSeek implementations, the department aims to close loopholes that might allow indirect use of the technology. This action reinforces a broader strategy to screen foreign AI vendors and secure federal IT infrastructure against geopolitical risks, potentially influencing state and private-sector procurement decisions.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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The Department of Homeland Security has banned DeepSeek AI from civilian government agencies. The order, effective since late July, excludes the Department of Defense.