In an order published in the Federal Register on October 20, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) banned civilian federal agencies from purchasing products of the Chinese AI company DeepSeek and asked for those products to be removed from existing systems.
What happened?
The order does two things. First, it excludes information technology products and services developed by Hangzhou-based DeepSeek and its affiliates from federal civilian procurement. Second, it requires agencies to remove DeepSeek products, and third-party products and services built with DeepSeek technology, from their systems. According to TechCrunch, agencies can request exceptions. The legal basis is the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018.
DHS cites the way data is handled as its reason: it warns that sensitive information belonging to US government users could be opened to Chinese authorities under Chinese law. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said they oppose overstretching the concept of national security and politicizing technology and trade issues, and that they will defend the rights of Chinese companies.
The US had already restricted the use of DeepSeek in intelligence and national security systems with a law passed in December 2025. The new order extends this to civilian agencies, covering both new purchases and systems already running.
Why does it matter?
The ban covers not only DeepSeek's own app but also the products of other companies built on its open-weight models. Because open models can easily be copied and embedded in other software, agencies will now need to know which model is running inside which product. This shows that the question of a model's origin in AI has become a supply chain issue. The AI rivalry between the US and China now reaches all the way down to public procurement rules.