'Unprecedented': Anthropic responds to Hegseth's directive calling company a 'supply chain risk'

Anthropic has responded to the US government’s action to shun the company amid a standoff with the Pentagon. Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday directed that Anthropic is a “supply chain risk.”

“We have tried in good faith to reach an agreement with the Department of War, making clear that we support all lawful uses of AI for national security aside from the two narrow exceptions above. To the best of our knowledge, these exceptions have not affected a single government mission to date,” Anthropic said in a statement.

Anthropic had till Friday to respond to the Pentagon’s demand that the company give unconditional access to its technology even if it violates ethical standards at the company, or face being forced to comply under emergency federal powers.

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The tech giant added, “Designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk would be an unprecedented action—one historically reserved for US adversaries, never before publicly applied to an American company. We are deeply saddened by these developments. As the first frontier AI company to deploy models in the US government’s classified networks, Anthropic has supported American warfighters since June 2024 and has every intention of continuing to do so.”

What did Hegseth say?

“In conjunction with the President’s directive for the Federal Government to cease all use of Anthropic’s technology, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security,” Hegseth said in a post.

“Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic,” he added.

While Amodei acknowledged that the US Defense Department has deployed Anthropic models to defend the country, it draws an ethical line regarding its use for mass surveillance of US citizens and fully autonomous weapons.

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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

What has Trump said?

US President Donald Trump has ordered all government agencies to immediately stop using Anthropic AI after the company’s CEO, Dario Amodei, refused to accede to the Pentagon’s demands to use its tech for mass surveillance.

“We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Calling Anthropic a “radical left” and “woke company”, Trump said that he has directed federal agencies, including the Defense Department, to phase out their technology in six months.