DHS on Oct 19 orders US civilian agencies off DeepSeek and blocks third-party services that embed it
The Verge reported on Oct 19 that DHS ordered all US civilian agencies off DeepSeek over fears that the model could exfiltrate data to China, and also blocked access to third-party services that integrate DeepSeek
On October 19, The Verge reported that the US Department of Homeland Security has ordered all US civilian agencies to stop using Chinese AI model DeepSeek, and to block access to third-party services that integrate it.
The DHS directive, driven by concerns that DeepSeek models could exfiltrate US government data to China, is the latest systematic federal restriction following earlier DeepSeek-related risk assessments in August. The order not only requires disabling DeepSeek's direct services but also cuts off third-party vendors that embed DeepSeek models or APIs in their products, closing indirect access channels.
The move continues the broader 2025-plus trajectory of US federal restrictions on Chinese AI, paralleling export controls and procurement bans that have hit Huawei, Nvidia H20 chips, and Alibaba Qwen. The article frames it as accelerating the on-sovereignty separation between US institutions and Chinese models.