Since late 2024, Anthropic’s models have been approved for classified US government work thanks to a partnership with Palantir and Amazon. In June, Anthropic announced Claude Gov, a special version of Claude that’s optimized for national security uses. Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Defense Department in July.
Claude Gov has fewer guardrails than the regular versions of Claude, but the contract still places some limits on military use of Claude. These include prohibitions on using Claude to spy on Americans or to build weapons that kill people without human oversight.
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to the Pentagon to demand that he waive these restrictions. If Anthropic doesn’t comply by Friday, the Pentagon is threatening to retaliate in one of two ways.
One option is to invoke the Defense Production Act, a Korean War–era law that allows the military to commandeer the facilities of private companies. President Trump could use the DPA to force a change in Anthropic’s contractual terms. Or he could go a step further. One Defense Department official told Axios that the government might try to “force Anthropic to adapt its model to the Pentagon’s needs, without any safeguards.”
Secretary of State Pete Hegseth. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Another threat would be to declare Anthropic to be a supply chain risk — a measure that’s normally taken against foreign companies suspected of spying on the US. Such a designation would not only ban US government agencies from using Claude, it could also force numerous government contractors to discontinue their use of Anthropic models.
A Pentagon spokesman reiterated this second threat in a Thursday tweet.
“We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions,” wrote Sean Parnell. He warned that Anthropic has “until 5:01 PM ET on Friday to decide. Otherwise, we will terminate our partnership with Anthropic and deem them a supply chain risk.”
I think Secretary Hegseth will regret it if he follows through on either of these threats.
Anthropic doesn’t need the Pentagon’s money
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