Anthropic labeled a supply-chain risk by US Department of Defense

The US Department of Defense has officially designated artificial intelligence company Anthropic and its products as a supply-chain risk. This regulatory designation requires any contractor doing business with the Pentagon to certify that they do not use Anthropic’s models. The decision marks an unprecedented escalation in the relationship between national security agencies and commercial AI developers.

The designation stems from a conflict over how the military can deploy Anthropic’s technology. Anthropic refused to allow the military to use its AI systems for mass surveillance of Americans or to power autonomous weapons without human oversight. However, the US military already relies on Anthropic’s Claude model for its campaign in Iran, where forces use the AI to manage operational data. Claude is integrated into Palantir’s Maven Smart System, which military operators in the Middle East rely on. Currently, Anthropic is the only frontier AI lab with classified-ready systems, which are AI systems approved for classified data.

The Pentagon’s move has drawn sharp criticism from industry observers and tech workers. Dean Ball, a former Trump White House AI adviser, characterized the designation as a death rattle and called the government’s behavior thuggish. Additionally, employees from Google and OpenAI urged the Department of Defense to withdraw the designation, calling on their own leadership to continue refusing demands to use AI models for mass surveillance or for killing people autonomously without human oversight.

Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei described the actions of the Department of Defense as “retaliatory and punitive.” Amodei reportedly believes his refusal to praise or donate to President Trump contributed to the dispute. In contrast, competitor OpenAI forged a deal with the Department of Defense to allow the military to use its systems for all lawful purposes. This agreement followed a $25 million donation by OpenAI president Greg Brockman to the MAGA Inc. Super PAC, a political action committee supporting Trump.

Why it matters

The Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk marks an unprecedented conflict between a frontier AI lab and the Department of Defense. The move threatens to disrupt military operations in the Middle East that rely on the company’s classified-ready systems.