The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued an official order requiring all federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek—and any third-party services built upon the Chinese AI model—from their IT systems. Citing severe national security and cybersecurity concerns, the directive also bans civilian government bodies from acquiring any DeepSeek-based products going forward.

Watch the full report on WION’s YouTube Channel.

Key Security Threats Identified by Homeland Security

In a notice published on Monday, the DHS outlined several critical vulnerabilities and security risks associated with the deployment of DeepSeek models within government infrastructure:

• Data Leakage to China: High risk of sensitive government information and data being transferred to the People’s Republic of China.
• Intelligence Exploitation: Potential for the AI model to gather or generate actionable intelligence on US individuals or federal agencies.
• Cyber Vulnerabilities & Malware: Inherent risk of hidden malware or unverified software vulnerabilities within the codebase.

Directives and Existing Federal/State Bans

The new mandate builds on a July DHS memo made public on Monday, which instructed federal agencies to actively monitor inbound and outbound traffic on government websites to detect potential DeepSeek-related risks.

This action follows earlier individual prohibitions already established across key federal and state institutions:

Entity Level	Institutions Enforcing Restrictions	Key Measures Implemented
Federal Agencies	Department of Commerce, US Navy	Banned DeepSeek usage on government-issued devices
State Governments	New York, Tennessee, Virginia	Prohibited state-level agency adoption and network access
Civilian Fleet-Wide	All US Civilian Federal Agencies	Mandatory system removal and prohibition of future procurement

Part of a Broader Tech Decoupling Strategy

The Chinese embassy in Washington has not immediately commented on the latest restriction. However, the ban is part of an escalating effort by Washington to curb exposure to Chinese technology across critical digital infrastructure.

As part of this ongoing effort, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is scheduled to vote on October 29th on a proposal that would ban Chinese laboratories from testing electronic devices—including smartphones, cameras, and computers—intended for use in the United States.