US civil agencies are required to remove and not purchase DeepSeek products as well as third-party services that use this Chinese AI.

According to Reuters, the new request was issued by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on October 19. DHS said the DeepSeek model "has many potential threats" and expressed concern that sensitive data could be transferred to China if US government employees or suppliers use AI.

DHS also believes that agencies' use of DeepSeek "may generate actionable intelligence about individuals and/or US government agencies. The models themselves may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities."

In a July memo and made public on October 19, the US Department of Homeland Security asked agencies to monitor traffic into and out of government websites to handle potential risks from DeepSeek.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington has not commented on the incident.

Previously, some agencies such as the Department of Commerce and the US Navy banned the use of DeepSeek on government equipment. Many states, such as New York, Tennessee, and Virginia, also took similar steps.

According to Bloomberg, since launching the low-cost R1 model that shocked the world early last year, DeepSeek has faced close scrutiny from policymakers in Washington, who see the company as a potential threat to US national security.

Reuters said that the administration of US President Donald Trump has many measures to reduce the influence of Chinese technology companies. In December 2025, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned the import of new Chinese drone models. The FCC plans to vote on October 29 to ban Chinese laboratories from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras, and computers for use in the US. Last year, 82% of US electronics were tested in this Eastern country.

Thu Thao summary