DHS orders federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and stop buying them

The Department of Homeland Security is barring US civilian federal agencies from using and buying products from Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, the Chinese company behind the DeepSeek models. The notice, which CyberScoop says is set to publish in the Federal Register on Tuesday, invokes the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act and cites a review by the Federal Acquisition Security Council. According to OfficeChai, agencies must remove DeepSeek products from their IT systems, and the order also covers third-party services built using DeepSeek's models. OfficeChai reports this is the first time the law has been used against an AI company. DHS said DeepSeek presents "multiple threat vectors" and that its use by government employees or vendors "may result in the transfer of sensitive data to the PRC." The department also warned that model outputs "could produce actionable intelligence on US persons and/or government agencies" and that the models themselves may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities. The notice includes a June 26 letter from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin ordering the exclusion, which suggests the ban has effectively been in place for months. A July memo, released along with the notice, shows DHS had already told agencies to monitor data moving to and from government websites for DeepSeek-related activity. The order affects vendors that sell to federal agencies as well as the agencies themselves.