The Department of Homeland Security has ordered U.S. civilian federal agencies to remove DeepSeek products, and any third-party products and services built on the Chinese company's AI models, from their IT systems. The order also bars agencies from buying DeepSeek products and services. DHS made it public on Monday, and the notice ran in the Federal Register on Tuesday.
DeepSeek's models "present multiple threat vectors," the order says. Because its apps work by sending prompts to the model, use of them "may result in the transfer of sensitive data to the PRC if used by U.S. government employees or vendors." That data, alone or combined with public information, "could produce actionable intelligence on U.S. persons and/or government programs," and the models themselves "may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities." DHS also cited open-source research that found multiple critical vulnerabilities in DeepSeek's iOS app.
The order is dated July 24, 2026, and was signed by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, so the ban has been in effect since late July. It applies to federal civilian executive branch agencies, including the Treasury, State and Justice departments, CNBC reported. It excludes the agencies' national security systems and secure compartmented information systems, and Defense Department agencies fall outside its scope.
Earlier Restrictions
Parts of the government had already acted on their own. The Defense Information Systems Agency moved to block DeepSeek in January 2025, the Commerce Department and the Navy barred it on government devices, and Congress restricted its use in intelligence community systems in December 2025. New York, Tennessee and Virginia took similar steps on state systems.
The new order goes further because it reaches tools other companies built with DeepSeek's models. Agencies have to remove those along with DeepSeek's own products. The purchase ban took effect immediately and covers agency-approved product lists, e-commerce markets and similar buying channels. Agencies that want an exception, including a delay in compliance, have to ask DHS in writing within 60 days of the order's issuance.
Until removal is finished, DHS encourages agencies to monitor traffic in and out of the agency, turn on enhanced logging and data-exfiltration controls, and flag anomalous activity. The order was issued under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018 after a review of a Federal Acquisition Security Council recommendation. It covers only federal civilian agencies and does not restrict businesses or the public from using DeepSeek's open-weight models.
The Trump administration has criticized Chinese AI firms before. In an April 23 memo, White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios said "foreign entities, principally based in China" were running campaigns to distill U.S. frontier AI models, and wrote that "there is nothing open about supposedly open models that are derived from acts of malicious exploitation." The memo did not name DeepSeek.
DeepSeek did not comment, and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Bloomberg. Asked by Reuters, China's foreign ministry said it would protect the rights and interests of Chinese companies. Spokesperson Mao Ning said "China consistently opposes the over-generalization of national security as well as the politicization of science, technology and trade issues."
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