The DeepSeek Order Reaches Tools Built With Its Models, and It Took Effect Back in July
The US has ordered all artificial intelligence technology from the Chinese firm DeepSeek to be removed from most government systems. The Department of Homeland Security's ban covers all use of DeepSeek within civilian government agencies and extends to any technology built with the aid of its AI models, so the target is not one app but a whole class of derivatives. The order is specific to civilian agencies, including the Departments of the Treasury, State and Justice. Agencies within the Department of Defense are excluded. Two dates belong together: DHS made the order public on Monday, but the ban took effect from the end of July.
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The carve-out is the most revealing line in the order. Treasury, State and Justice are told to strip these tools out; agencies inside the Department of Defense are not covered. That reads less like one security judgment applied evenly than two different appetites for risk inside the same government.
Or it reads as a disclosure story rather than a policy rupture. A ban effective from the end of July, announced in October, had months to run inside agencies before the public heard about it — and DHS, DeepSeek and the Chinese embassy have all been contacted for comment, so the public version may be catching up to a decision already in force.