The US DeepSeek order reaches third-party products built with its technology

The US Department of Homeland Security ordered civilian federal agencies to exclude DeepSeek-developed IT products and services from procurement. Separately, it ordered the removal of DeepSeek products and third-party products or services developed using DeepSeek implementations from civilian agency systems. The notice entered public inspection on 19 October and was published in the Federal Register on 20 October.[5]

Several agencies had already acted individually. Reuters reports that the Commerce Department and Navy previously prohibited DeepSeek on government devices, alongside restrictions in states including New York, Tennessee and Virginia. The document now made public sets out a federal civilian exclusion and removal order.[2]

The signed order gives 24 July 2026 as its original release date. Exclusion and removal were required immediately after issuance; its 60-day period concerned written exception requests. October publication does not create a fresh 60-day removal window.[1]

The distinction between the two operative clauses matters. The exclusion clause expressly addresses procurement of DeepSeek-developed products and services. The removal clause reaches further into deployed federal systems by also covering third-party offerings developed using DeepSeek implementations. The latter is not, by itself, a blanket ban on privately using DeepSeek in the United States.[5]

The purchase can be several steps away from the model developer

The procurement system already treats a technology supplier as potentially sitting anywhere in a supply chain. Federal acquisition rules require the contracting officer and the relevant programme office to identify which security orders apply to a purchase. That applicability depends on the buying agency, the order’s scope, funding and the type of information system involved. The rules also cover applicable prohibitions when contracts are extended or renewed.[3]

The DeepSeek order covers federal civilian executive-branch systems, with national-security and sensitive compartmented systems governed separately. It is not a general prohibition on private US use. DHS attributes its decision to risks including Chinese state access to data and possible security vulnerabilities.[1]

Exception requests under the governing regulation require a compelling justification and proposed measures to reduce risk. Continued commercial availability alone does not establish that an agency can buy or retain a product.[4]

Where an acquisition depends on a waiver, the procurement rules require written approval before an award can be made. For a software company selling to government, this turns an AI component choice into a purchasing question: which security orders apply to the service being offered, and can that service satisfy them?[3]

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