Pentagon Flags Anthropic as Supply Chain Risk

Following a public disagreement with the Department of Defense, President Trump has issued a directive via Truth Social instructing all federal agencies to discontinue their use of products from the artificial intelligence firm Anthropic. While departments have been granted a six-month period to phase out existing products, the President explicitly stated that Anthropic would no longer be considered a viable federal contractor.

In his post, President Trump declared, “We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again.”

Notably absent from the President’s initial announcement was any mention of designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk, a consequence that had previously been suggested. However, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth subsequently fulfilled this threat through a tweet.

Secretary Hegseth stated, “In conjunction with the President’s directive for the Federal Government to cease all use of Anthropic’s technology, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security. Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.”

At the heart of the Pentagon’s dispute with Anthropic was the company’s steadfast refusal to permit its advanced AI models to be utilized for either widespread domestic surveillance or the development of fully autonomous weapon systems, terms which Secretary Hegseth deemed excessively restrictive.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei publicly reaffirmed his company's position in a post on Thursday, indicating no willingness to compromise on these two fundamental conditions.

Amodei articulated, “Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters — with our two requested safeguards in place. Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions.”