The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has publicly disclosed an order requiring civilian federal agencies to remove DeepSeek products from their IT systems and stop purchasing them. An official notice filed on October 19 sets out the restrictions under federal supply-chain security law.
The measures cover DeepSeek and affiliated entities, alongside third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek implementations. That extends the removal requirement beyond the company’s own chatbot to outside tools incorporating its technology.
DHS cites risks involving sensitive government data reaching China, information being used to generate intelligence on U.S. people or programs, and potential software vulnerabilities. These are the department’s stated security concerns; the order does not document a specific agency data breach.
The signed order carries an original release date of July 24, while formal Federal Register publication of the notice is scheduled for October 20. Its stated scope excludes national security systems and sensitive compartmented information systems, which fall under separate authorities.
The public disclosure comes as DeepSeek expands its developer platform. The company’s recent Flash update also introduced Search and Fetch APIs for AI agents, adding web retrieval to its model services.
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