US bans DeepSeek across federal agencies, putting AI supply chains under scrutiny
DeepSeek has been dealt a huge blow in the US, even as it continues to innovate and keep pace with, or in some cases outperform, rival models from American labs. The US Secretary of Homeland Security has issued an order banning all DeepSeek products and services from federal agencies. Government organizations must purge their IT systems of it within 60 days; those with “compelling justification” can make a case for exemption by written request to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cited multiple concerns about the Chinese-hosted model, including data sovereignty , lax Chinese laws, and security vulnerabilities. Analyst Erik Avakian , technical counselor at Infotech, understands the concern. “When organizations use any type of hosted AI service, they’re potentially sending intellectual property, confidential business information, or other sensitive data into an environment where they may have very little visibility or c
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