Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared artificial intelligence firm Anthropic a supply chain risk to national security on Friday. He immediately barred military contractors from any commercial dealings with the company.
Pete Hegseth, defense secretary, announced the decision on X. He wrote that no contractor, supplier or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic. In addition, Hegseth added that America’s warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech. He stated this decision is final.
The action followed a Friday deadline set by the Pentagon. Anthropic had refused to remove guardrails from its Claude AI model for unrestricted military use.
Dispute centers on AI safeguard
Dario Amodei, chief executive officer of Anthropic, explained the company’s position in a statement on Thursday. He said the firm cannot in good conscience accede to the Pentagon’s demands.
Anthropic had requested two exceptions in its contract. These prevented use of Claude for mass domestic surveillance of Americans and for fully autonomous weapons.
However the Pentagon demanded any lawful use without such limits. The dispute built over months of talks. Anthropic held a 200 million dollar contract with the Department of Defense signed last summer.
President Donald Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic technology earlier on Friday. This step preceded Hegseth’s declaration.
Anthropic plans legal fight
Anthropic vowed to challenge the supply chain risk designation in court. The company called the move legally unsound. It warned that the action sets a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government.
Anthropic noted that such designations historically targeted only foreign adversaries. The firm added that Hegseth lacks authority to ban all commercial activity. Meanwhile it stated the label applies solely to work on Department of Defense contracts.
This week, Anthropic delivered a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government or the Pentagon.
Our position has never wavered and will never waver: the Department of War must have full, unrestricted…— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 27, 2026
