DHS orders DeepSeek products out of US federal civilian agency systems and procurements

The Department of Homeland Security is publishing notice of an order by the Secretary of Homeland Security. The order excludes information technology products and services developed by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd (DeepSeek), including affiliated entities as defined in 48 CFR 2.101, from federal civilian agency procurements. It also removes all DeepSeek and DeepSeek-affiliate products, and third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek implementations, from civilian agency information technology. The notice cites the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018 (41 U.S.C. 1321-1328) and 41 CFR 201-1, following review of the Federal Acquisition Security Council recommendation. The docket is DHS-2026-0628 on regulations.gov. The notice was filed for public inspection on 19 October 2026 and is scheduled for Federal Register publication on 20 October 2026. As reported by BBC News, the order is specific to civilian agencies, agencies within the Department of Defense are excluded, and the ban took effect from the end of July.

What it means for business: suppliers to US federal civilian agencies cannot offer DeepSeek products or third-party products built using DeepSeek implementations; the order covers federal civilian agencies, not private-sector use.