Anthropic Petitions Court to Rehear National Security Risk Case
Anthropic asked a federal appeals court to rehear a case regarding the Department of Defense's designation of the company as a national security supply-chain risk.
AI company Anthropic PBC petitioned a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., on October 13 to rehear a case concerning its designation as a national security supply-chain risk. The request follows a September 25 decision by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which ruled 2-1 to uphold the blacklist.
The conflict began in March when the Department of Defense, led by Secretary Pete Hegseth, designated the company a supply-chain risk. This action prohibited defense contractors from using Claude AI models and followed a breakdown in negotiations over deploying the technology on the GenAI.mil platform.
Anthropic argues that the majority of the appeals court incorrectly interpreted the law by allowing the Department of Defense to act without a pre-designation process. The company further alleges the blacklist was an act of retaliation for its public AI-safety commitments, specifically its refusal to permit the use of its technology for mass surveillance of Americans or lethal autonomous warfare.
