The U.S. government has ordered a ban on the use of DeepSeek by civilian agencies, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday. The directive applies to all products from the Chinese AI leader, as well as third-party services using its models.
The announcement makes public a July memo that had already instructed federal agencies to monitor data flow on government servers for potential risks from DeepSeek. The use of DeepSeek products “may result in the transfer of sensitive data to the PRC if used by U.S. government employees or vendors,” the department said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
It added that government agencies using DeepSeek “could produce actionable intelligence on U.S. persons and/or government agencies. The models themselves may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities.”
DeepSeek emerged with a bang onto the AI scene in January 2025 with the release of its R1 model, a high-performing model that briefly sent American AI stocks tumbling. The low cost of operating its open-source products has made them popular among both large companies and individual consumers in the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security move to restrict DeepSeek is the latest indication that tech tensions between the U.S. and China remain high, despite a trade truce between the two countries that has held since last November. While President Donald Trump has prioritized displays of friendship during his bilateral summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), federal agencies and congressional committees have continued to pursue a more hawkish line on Chinese technology.
In June, the Pentagon announced a series of prominent additions to its list of companies aiding China’s military, including the e-commerce giant Alibaba and the search engine company Baidu. Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would consider banning Chinese labs from testing electronics for the U.S. market.
Despite drawing routine condemnations from government spokespeople in Beijing, Washington’s growing crackdown on Chinese tech has yet to upset the fragile truce in the broader relationship between the two countries.
Congress has continued to propose a steady drumbeat of legislation to write regulatory directives into law, including a potential total ban on Chinese electric vehicles.
John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, has proposed a bill to ban the federal use of AI models from all foreign adversaries, which would apply to Russia, Iran and North Korea, in addition to China.
In a statement on Monday, Moolenaar called DeepSeek “a tool for the CCP to spy, steal, and subvert export controls on the world-leading chips that keep America ahead of the CCP.”
“DeepSeek is a dangerous AI model that has no place in the federal government, and the Trump Administration is right to put this commonsense AI guardrail in place.”
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