Anthropic to challenge US ‘supply chain risk’ designation by Department of War, says Dario Amodei

Anthropic said it plans to challenge in court a decision by the United States Department of War that designates the firm as a “supply chain risk” to US national security, according to a statement from Chief Executive Dario Amodei.

In a public note released on March 5, Amodei said the company had received a formal letter from the department confirming the designation.

“Yesterday (March 4), Anthropic received a letter from the Department of War confirming that we have been designated as a supply chain risk to America’s national security,” Amodei said.

He added that the company believes the move is not legally justified and will contest it.

“As we wrote on Friday, we do not believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court,” he said.

The designation applies narrowly to specific government contracts rather than broadly restricting the use of Anthropic’s AI systems, according to the company.

“The language used by the Department of War in the letter … matches our statement on Friday that the vast majority of our customers are unaffected by a supply chain risk designation,” Amodei said. “With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War.”

Anthropic’s flagship AI model, Claude, can still be used by contractors outside work directly tied to Defence Department contracts, he said.

“The Department’s letter has a narrow scope, and this is because the relevant statute (10 USC 3252) is narrow, too,” Amodei said, adding that the law “requires the Secretary of War to use the least restrictive means necessary to accomplish the goal of protecting the supply chain.”

The company said it had been in discussions with the department in recent days on how its systems could continue supporting national security work within its internal policy limits.

“We had been having productive conversations with the Department of War over the last several days … about ways we could serve the Department that adhere to our two narrow exceptions,” Amodei said.

Anthropic said its technology had been used to support a range of defence applications.

“We are very proud of the work we have done together with the Department, supporting frontline warfighters with applications such as intelligence analysis, modelling and simulation, operational planning, cyber operations, and more,” Amodei said.

The company reiterated its stance that private firms should not participate directly in military operational decisions.

“As we stated last Friday, we do not believe, and have never believed, that it is the role of Anthropic or any private company to be involved in operational decision-making; that is the role of the military,” Amodei said.

Amodei also apologised for the tone of an internal message that was leaked to the media earlier this week.

“That particular post was written within a few hours of the President’s Truth Social post announcing Anthropic would be removed from all federal systems,” he said, adding that it “does not reflect my careful or considered views.”

Despite the dispute, the company said it intends to continue supporting US national security agencies during any transition.

“Our most important priority right now is making sure that our warfighters and national security experts are not deprived of important tools in the middle of major combat operations,” Amodei said.

“Anthropic will provide our models to the Department of War and the national security community, at nominal cost and with continuing support from our engineers, for as long as is necessary to make that transition.”

He added that the company shares broader strategic goals with the US defence establishment.

“Anthropic has much more in common with the Department of War than we have differences,” Amodei said. “We both are committed to advancing US national security and defending the American people.”