diff --git a/packages/apollo-federation/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/apollo-federation/CHANGELOG.md
index be5f084abb3..5dcce0a720f 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-federation/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/apollo-federation/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ### vNEXT
 
+* Allow specified directives during validation (@deprecated) [#2823](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/pull/2823)
+
 # v0.6.1
 
 * Normalize SDL in a normalization step before validation [#2771](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/pull/2771)
diff --git a/packages/apollo-federation/src/composition/validate/preComposition/__tests__/keyFieldsMissingExternal.test.ts b/packages/apollo-federation/src/composition/validate/preComposition/__tests__/keyFieldsMissingExternal.test.ts
index 222d5e9caaf..3811694310e 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-federation/src/composition/validate/preComposition/__tests__/keyFieldsMissingExternal.test.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-federation/src/composition/validate/preComposition/__tests__/keyFieldsMissingExternal.test.ts
@@ -51,6 +51,37 @@ describe('keyFieldsMissingExternal', () => {
     expect(warnings).toHaveLength(0);
   });
 
+  it('has no warnings with @deprecated directive usage', () => {
+    const serviceA = {
+      typeDefs: gql`
+        extend type Car @key(fields: "model { name kit { upc } } year") {
+          model: Model! @external
+          year: String! @external
+          color: String! @deprecated(reason: "Use colors instead")
+          colors: Color!
+        }
+
+        extend type Model {
+          name: String! @external
+          kit: Kit @external
+        }
+
+        extend type Kit {
+          upc: String! @external
+        }
+
+        enum Color {
+          Red
+          Blue
+        }
+      `,
+      name: 'serviceA',
+    };
+
+    const warnings = validateKeyFieldsMissingExternal(serviceA);
+    expect(warnings).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
   it("warns when a @key argument doesn't reference an @external field", () => {
     const serviceA = {
       typeDefs: gql`
diff --git a/packages/apollo-federation/src/composition/validate/preComposition/keyFieldsMissingExternal.ts b/packages/apollo-federation/src/composition/validate/preComposition/keyFieldsMissingExternal.ts
index 18fd77698a3..58b868d3e82 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-federation/src/composition/validate/preComposition/keyFieldsMissingExternal.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-federation/src/composition/validate/preComposition/keyFieldsMissingExternal.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import {
   parse,
   GraphQLSchema,
   GraphQLError,
+  specifiedDirectives,
 } from 'graphql';
 import { buildSchemaFromSDL } from 'apollo-graphql';
 import { isNotNullOrUndefined } from 'apollo-env';
@@ -58,7 +59,7 @@ export const keyFieldsMissingExternal = ({
   // this allows us to build a partial schema
   let schema = new GraphQLSchema({
     query: undefined,
-    directives: federationDirectives,
+    directives: [...specifiedDirectives, ...federationDirectives],
   });
   try {
     schema = buildSchemaFromSDL(typeDefs, schema);