By Roman Aglaganov
The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered federal civilian agencies to stop buying DeepSeek products and to remove them from their IT systems. The order, dated July, was made public in the Federal Register on 19 and 20 October.
What the order covers
Beyond the app: it covers not just DeepSeek’s own chatbot and models but third-party products and services built with DeepSeek technology. That matters because DeepSeek’s models are open-weight, so anyone can build on them.
The law behind it: it uses a 2018 supply-chain security law that lets the government cut risky suppliers out of federal purchasing. Agencies can ask for exceptions.
What it adds: a law passed in December 2025 already restricted DeepSeek in intelligence and national security systems. This order extends the ban to civilian agencies, for new purchases and for systems already running.
The reasons given: DHS says data from US government users could be accessible to Chinese authorities under Chinese law, and that the models pose “multiple threat vectors”, including possible hidden malware or security flaws.
China’s response
Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said Beijing opposes “overstretching the concept of national security and politicizing technology and trade issues”, and that China “will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises”. DeepSeek did not comment to Bloomberg or Reuters.
Why it matters
Banning an app is simple; banning a model is not. Because the order reaches tools built on DeepSeek, agencies now have to find out which of their vendors’ products use those weights under the hood. Expect contractors to be asked what models their software runs on, a question many have never had to answer. The order also lands as US-China AI rivalry sharpens: Bloomberg reported last week that China is considering export controls on AI models, chips and agents of its own.
