The DeepSeek order covering US federal civilian agencies is dated July 24 — what landed Tuesday is its publication in the Federal Register, exceptions and all

“The DeepSeek order reshaping US federal civilian agencies carries a July 24 release date — Tuesday's news is just that it's now published paperwork.”

Usable claims

• On October 20, 2026 (Tuesday, calendar-verified), DHS's exclusion-and-removal order for DeepSeek was published in the Federal Register (Volume 91, Number 201, pages 66346-66350; Document Number 2026-21447; Docket No. DHS-2026-0628; FR Doc. 2026-21447 Filed 10-19-26; 8:45 am — Monday). Per the notice's SUMMARY, the Department of Homeland Security is publishing notice of the Secretary's issuance of an order '(1) excluding information technology products and services developed by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd (DeepSeek), to include affiliated entities as defined in applicable regulations, from federal civilian agency procurements; and, (2) removing all DeepSeek and DeepSeek-affiliate products, and third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek implementations, from civilian agency information technology.' The signed order in the Appendix — 'Exclusion and Removal Order #2026-01', issued by Secretary Markwayne Mullin — carries its own header 'Original Release Date: July 24, 2026' (Friday, calendar-verified; image-read from the scanned appendix pages): the October 20 event is the publication of a July 24 order, and per CyberScoop (Derek B. Johnson, Monday October 19) 'the ban has been in place for months'. The order's stated risks (image-read): 'DeepSeek's models present multiple threat vectors.'; 'DeepSeek servers are located in the PRC, and the PRC legal system permits extensive authority to government cyber and intelligence functions to access private company infrastructure.'; 'For DeepSeek-hosted instances of their models, DeepSeek's account generation process collects personally identifiable information (PII) and may also track and digitally fingerprint users.'; and 'The models themselves may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities. Indeed, open-source security research has found that the DeepSeek iOS mobile application contains multiple critical vulnerabilities.' Required actions (image-read): exclusion is 'effective immediately after issuance of this Order', and removal runs 'immediately after the issuance of the Order, or seek an Exception, as described below.' Exceptions (image-read): 'Executive agency requests for exceptions must be submitted in writing within 60 days of the issuance of this order', and 'CISA will review requests for exceptions and provide a written approval or disapproval.' China's response came the same day, per the MFA's own October 20 briefing transcripts: Mao Ning, per the official English transcript, said 'China consistently opposes overstretching the concept of national security and politicizing tech and trade issues. We will resolutely safeguard Chinese businesses' lawful rights and interests.' (zh original: 「中方一贯反对泛化国家安全概念、将科技经贸问题政治化。我们将坚决维护中国企业合法权益。」). Per TechCrunch (Kate Park, 6:07 AM PDT October 20), the order 'goes beyond banning DeepSeek's own product, but also covers third-party products and services built using DeepSeek technology, though agencies can request exceptions', and — per TechCrunch's rendering of the same MFA answer — Mao Ning opposes 'overstretching the concept of national security and politicizing technology and trade issues' and said 'We will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,' in TechCrunch's rendering — the MFA's own transcript wording differs and is kept per-outlet.