Pentagon confirms Anthropic remains a ‘supply chain risk’ despite court ruling

“Anthropic is still a designated Supply Chain Risk at [the Department of War] and for the Defense Industrial Base,” Undersecretary of War Emil Michael said on Thursday, ending his post with the president’s signature phrase: “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”The statement appears to be a direct repudiation of last week’s court order that the Pentagon acted unlawfully by punishing Anthropic for criticizing the administration’s views on unrestricted AI use within the U.S. military. The company maintained that the military should not use its technology for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance. The administration disagreed with that stance. War Secretary Pete Hegseth then decided to blacklist Anthropic by labeling the AI research and safety firm a supply chain risk to national security.U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, an appointee of former President Joe Biden in the Northern District of California, concluded the administration’s action amounted to “unlawful retaliation” in violation of the First Amendment. She also determined that the administration deprived Anthropic of its due-process rights under the Fifth Amendment.“The government is certainly owed deference on weighty issues of national security,” Lin wrote. “But Defendants’ contemporaneous words and deeds confirm that the challenged actions were based on a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government, not based on any articulable basis to believe that Anthropic would actually sabotage its model.”The Aug. 27 order is a permanent injunction, so the administration is required to comply after it was denied a seven-day stay of the ruling. It’s unclear why the Pentagon says it still classifies Anthropic as a supply chain risk, but it could be related to the fact that a similar case remains ongoing.The judge’s order stems from one of two lawsuits related to the dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon. The second case is playing out in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.Anthropic sued the administration in California and Washington, D.C., simultaneously back in March to reverse the Pentagon’s blacklisting.Given Michael’s statement, the administration is expected to fight Lin’s ruling. No appeal has been filed yet.Despite the legal battles, Anthropic appears to be successfully mending its relationship with the federal government, as indicated by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.“They’re back on the right side,” Lutnick said in a recent interview with Axios when asked if he trusts Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. “So the answer is yes.”FEDERAL JUDGE RULES WAR DEPARTMENT’S DESIGNATION OF ANTHROPIC AS A NATIONAL SECURITY RISK WAS ILLEGALLutnick’s response came as he co-hosted the G20 Innovation Ministerial summit in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown was present. Brown was the highest-ranking Anthropic representative at the two-day event this week. Amodei did not attend.The Commerce Department previously placed Anthropic’s advanced Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models under export controls due to potential cybersecurity risks outside the United States threatening national security. The export restrictions were later lifted after Anthropic addressed the administration’s concerns.