Pentagon Maintains Supply Chain Risk Designation for Anthropic

The United States Department of Defense maintains its designation of Anthropic PBC as a supply-chain risk, effectively banning the AI developer from the Defense Department and the Defense Industrial Base. Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael confirmed the status on social media, contradicting claims from US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the company had resolved its differences with the Trump administration.

The dispute centers on defense officials' concerns that Anthropic attempted to impose guardrails on the military use of its AI models, an action the Pentagon viewed as interference with the chain of command. While the United States Department of Commerce lifted export controls on Anthropic's Mythos and Fable models in June, the Pentagon continues to seek alternative AI providers.

Anthropic is currently challenging the designation through the legal system. A federal judge in San Francisco recently ordered the government to lift the ban, and the company is pursuing an additional case in a federal appeals court in Washington, DC.