Pentagon says Anthropic's Claude risks defense supply chain
Mar 11th 2026
Defense Department CTO Emil Michael said Claude's embedded policy preferences could "pollute" the defense supply chain, prompting a first-of-its-kind US risk designation and a lawsuit from Anthropic.
- Pentagon CTO Emil Michael said Anthropic's Claude would "pollute" the defense supply chain because its models have different policy preferences baked in.
- Anthropic is the first US company publicly labeled a supply chain risk, a designation usually reserved for foreign adversaries.
- The designation requires defense contractors and vendors to certify they do not use Claude in work for the Department of Defense.
- Anthropic sued the government, calling the designation unprecedented and saying it jeopardizes hundreds of millions in contracts.
- Anthropic's published "constitution" guides Claude's behavior and is cited by the Pentagon as the source of the model's policy differences.
- The DOD says the label is not meant to be punitive and has a transition plan, but officials warn replacing Claude across the department will take time.