US DHS orders all federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek, including third-party products built on its models, and bars future purchases; the FASCSA order dates from July 24

Why it matters

【Key points】

DHS put an order on Federal Register public inspection on Oct 19 (doc 2026-21447, 12:45 UTC; formal publication Oct 20). Federal civilian agencies must drop DeepSeek and its affiliates from procurement, and immediately remove DeepSeek products, plus third-party products and services built on DeepSeek implementations, from their IT systems.

"Exclusion and Removal Order #2026-01" was issued under the 2018 Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act and signed by Secretary Markwayne Mullin on July 24, but made public only now. National security systems, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies are outside it. Agencies have 60 days to seek a written exception from CISA.

DHS cites servers in China and Chinese law on state access, collection of personal data at sign-up, possible transfer of staff and vendor prompts to China, possible malware in the models, and critical flaws found in the iOS app. Reuters says a July DHS memo, also released, told agencies to monitor DeepSeek traffic to government websites.

【Verifiable】

Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-21447/order-exclusion-and-removal-of-deepseek-products-from-federal-civilian-executive-branch-information

Order PDF: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-21447.pdf

【Our read】

1. This is much wider than an app ban. Covering products "developed using DeepSeek implementations" reaches vendors that build on DeepSeek models, self-hosted open weights included.

2. It is the first FASCSA order aimed at an AI model company, a template for other Chinese model makers.

3. China proposed export controls on 23 AI technologies, including large models, days ago. Both sides are now gating cross-border use of open models.