Pentagon Flags Anthropic as Potential Supply Chain Threat

In a post on Truth Social, President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using all products from Anthropic following the company's public disagreement with the Department of Defense. The directive includes a six-month transition period for agencies currently using the technology, but the President made it clear that Anthropic is no longer an acceptable federal contractor.

"We don't need it, we don't want it, and we will not do business with them again," the President stated in the post.

Notably, the President's announcement did not include plans to formally label Anthropic as a supply chain risk, a previously suggested consequence. However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth followed through on that threat in a subsequent tweet.

"In line with the President's order for the Federal Government to halt all use of Anthropic's technology, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," Secretary Hegseth wrote. "Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner working with the United States military may engage in any commercial activity with Anthropic."

The dispute with the Pentagon stemmed from Anthropic's refusal to allow its AI models to be used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems, restrictions which Secretary Hegseth deemed overly limiting.

CEO Dario Amodei reaffirmed his company's position in a public statement on Thursday, stating they would not compromise on these two core principles.

"Our strong preference is to continue serving the Department and our military personnel—with our two requested safeguards intact," Amodei wrote. "If the Department decides to transition away from Anthropic, we will cooperate fully to ensure a smooth handover to another provider, preventing any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions."

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OpenAI has publicly supported Anthropic's decision. According to the BBC, CEO Sam Altman informed staff in a Thursday memo that he shares the same "red lines," stating that any OpenAI defense contracts would also prohibit uses deemed "unlawful or unsuitable for cloud deployments, such as domestic surveillance and autonomous offensive weapons."

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who had a very public falling out with Altman in November 2023 and later started his own AI company, also commented on the situation Friday on X. He wrote, "It's extremely positive that Anthropic has held its ground, and it's significant that OpenAI has adopted a similar position. We will face far more difficult situations like this in the future, and it will be crucial for leaders to rise to the challenge and for fierce competitors to set aside their differences. It's good to see that happening today."

Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google each received contract awards from the U.S. Defense Department last July. While some Google employees have expressed support for Anthropic, Google and its parent company have not yet issued an official statement.