Pentagon designates Anthropic a supply-chain risk after AI policy dispute
Feb 28th 2026
The Pentagon moved to formally label Anthropic a supply-chain risk and restrict military partners from working with the company after a public standoff over DoD requests to use its AI for surveillance and autonomous weapons.
- President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic products and allowed a six-month phase-out period.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Pentagon to label Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk and barred contractors and partners that work with the military from doing business with the company.
- The dispute began when Anthropic refused DoD requests to enable its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company will not soften those safeguards and offered to help transition services if the Department offboards Anthropic.