Pentagon moves to designate Anthropic as a supply-chain risk

President Trump Orders Federal Agencies to Stop Using Anthropic Products

In a recent post on Truth Social, President Trump made a bold directive for all federal agencies to cease using Anthropic products. This decision came after a public dispute between the company and the Department of Defense. The president allowed for a six-month phase-out period for departments currently using Anthropic products, but made it clear that the company was no longer welcome as a federal contractor.

“We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again,” the president emphasized in his post.

The president’s announcement did not mention any plans to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk, as previously suggested. However, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth followed up with a tweet confirming the decision.

“In conjunction with the President’s directive, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security,” Secretary Hegseth stated. “Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner working with the United States military may engage in any commercial activity with Anthropic.”

The dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon stemmed from the company’s refusal to allow its AI models to be used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. Secretary Hegseth found this refusal to be overly restrictive.

CEO Dario Amodei stood firm on the company’s stance in a public statement, stating that they would not compromise on these two points. Amodei expressed a willingness to facilitate a smooth transition to another provider should the Department choose to discontinue their services.

OpenAI showed support for Anthropic’s decision, with CEO Sam Altman stating that they shared the same principles. Altman made it clear that any defense contracts related to OpenAI would also reject uses that were deemed unlawful or unsuitable for cloud deployments, such as domestic surveillance and autonomous offensive weapons.

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who had previously clashed with Altman, also voiced his support for Anthropic’s stance. Sutskever highlighted the importance of leaders standing up for their principles in challenging situations.

Last July, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google each received contract awards from the U.S. Defense Department. While some Google employees have expressed support for Anthropic, Google and its parent company have remained silent on the matter.