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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Pledges to Fight Pentagon Supply Chain Risk Designation in Court

Canopy Policy

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a public statement on March 5, 2026 confirming that the company received a formal letter from the Department of War (DoD) designating it as a supply chain risk and announcing Anthropic's intention to challenge the designation in federal court. Amodei argued the designation's scope is narrow — applying only to Claude use as part of direct DoD contracts, not to all customers with government ties — citing 10 USC 3252, which requires the Secretary of War to use the least restrictive means necessary. He also apologized for a leaked internal memo and pledged to continue supplying Claude to warfighters at nominal cost through any transition period.

Key Takeaways

  • Anthropic received formal DoD supply chain risk letter March 4, 2026 under 10 USC 3252; Dario Amodei says scope is limited to direct DoD contract uses of Claude, not all customers
  • Anthropic will challenge the designation in court; Amodei states the company has been providing Claude for intelligence analysis, modeling, simulation, operational planning, and cyber operations
  • Anthropic will supply models to DoD at nominal cost with full engineering support for as long as needed during transition; company's two hard exceptions remain fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance

Original source: Anthropic