DHS Orders DeepSeek's Chinese AI Purged From All Federal Government Systems

The Trump administration has ordered Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek's products and services removed from every civilian federal agency's IT systems, and banned government agencies from buying any new ones — the most sweeping US crackdown yet on a Chinese AI firm inside the federal government.

The Department of Homeland Security published the order on Monday, directing agencies to remove DeepSeek products and third-party services built using its models from government systems. It also bans the acquisition of DeepSeek products — including tools from its affiliates — across civilian agencies, under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018.

DHS said DeepSeek's models pose "multiple threat vectors." The department warned that if US government employees or contractors used the products, sensitive data could be transferred to the People's Republic of China, and that use of the models "could produce actionable intelligence on US persons and/or government agencies." DHS also said it could not rule out that the models "may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities."

The order was issued on July 24 by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin but only made public on October 19, when DHS posted it to the Federal Register. A companion July memo, also made public Monday, told federal agencies to monitor flows of traffic in and out of government websites to address potential risks from DeepSeek.

National security systems and certain classified intelligence systems fall outside the order's scope. The action follows a wave of government bans and regulatory scrutiny of DeepSeek since early 2025 across Europe and Asia. The United States is now at least the eighth government to restrict the company's products, with most citing the same concern: user data stored in China, where the law gives the state broad powers to access private companies' infrastructure.

Some agencies had already acted on their own. The Department of Commerce and the Navy previously banned DeepSeek on government devices, and multiple states — including New York, Tennessee and Virginia — have taken similar steps.

The ban is the latest in a series of Trump administration moves against Chinese technology firms. In December, the Federal Communications Commission banned imports of all new models of Chinese-made drones and consumer routers. The FCC is scheduled to vote on October 29 on a proposal to bar all Chinese laboratories from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the United States.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment on the DeepSeek order.

Sources:

- Reuters: "US banning Chinese AI DeepSeek from government agency IT systems" (Oct. 19, 2026) — https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-banning-chinese-ai-deepseek-government-agency-it-systems-2026-10-19/

- The Hindu: "US banning Chinese AI DeepSeek from government agency IT systems" (Oct. 20, 2026)

- The Economic Times: "From Rome to Washington, why governments are pulling DeepSeek off official systems" (Oct. 20, 2026)

- CHOSUNBIZ: "Trump administration bans DeepSeek across US agencies over China data risk" (Oct. 20, 2026), citing Bloomberg and Reuters