DeepSeek banned from U.S. federal civilian agencies under new DHS order

Secretary Markwayne Mullin signed the order on July 24, 2026, under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018. It names Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence and its affiliates, and it covers third-party products built on DeepSeek's models. Agencies have 60 days to request exceptions, which CISA will approve or deny. National security systems fall outside the order. DHS filed the order on October 19, ahead of Federal Register publication on October 20. Some agencies had already blocked DeepSeek's chatbot, and Texas, New York and Virginia restricted it on state devices starting in early 2025. DHS cites data transfers to China and personal data collected during account creation. The order does not reach private or consumer use. For founders building on open-weight models, the risk is a dependency that traces back to DeepSeek. Vendors selling to civilian agencies must check whether any component runs on DeepSeek weights, because