US Homeland Security orders federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek

What the order does

According to the Federal Register notice filed for public inspection on October 19, 2026 (document 2026-21447, docket DHS-2026-0628; formal publication October 20), Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin signed Exclusion and Removal Order #2026-01 on July 24, 2026, under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018, following a Federal Acquisition Security Council review.

Civilian executive-branch agencies must stop buying information-technology products and services from Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd. and its affiliates, and remove DeepSeek and affiliate products — plus third-party products and services "developed using DeepSeek implementations" — from their information systems.

DHS's stated reasons

DHS said the models present "multiple threat vectors": use by federal employees or vendors "may result in the transfer of sensitive data to the PRC," the models "may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities," and prompts could be combined with public records to build "actionable intelligence" on US persons.

Questions over the exception window

Agencies could seek exceptions in writing within 60 days of issuance — but issuance was July 24, so the window had already closed before the October 19 public filing, raising questions about enforcement.

The order covers only civilian executive-branch agencies, not the Department of Defense or national security systems. The Commerce Department barred DeepSeek from government devices in 2025, and the Navy told personnel not to use it that year; the FCC is set to vote October 29 on barring Chinese labs from device testing.