Tech Workers Protest Anthropic's DoD Status
A coalition of U.S. tech workers is urging the Department of Defense to withdraw its designation of AI firm Anthropic as a “supply-chain risk.” The group argues the label is overly broad and stifles competition by concentrating government contracts with a few favored vendors.
The dispute escalated after months of failed negotiations over the military's use of Anthropic's AI model, Claude. The Pentagon demanded "full, unrestricted access" for any "lawful purpose," but Anthropic refused to remove safeguards against two specific uses: mass domestic surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons systems. The "supply-chain risk" designation is an unprecedented move against a U.S. company, a measure historically reserved for foreign adversaries like Russia's Kaspersky Labs and China's Huawei. Anthropic has called the designation "legally unsound" and has vowed to challenge the action in court. On February 27, 2026, President Donald Trump ordered all federal agencies to cease using Anthropic's technology, mandating a six-month phase-out period for the Pentagon. Following the directive, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth officially announced the "supply-chain risk" label for the AI firm. The open letter of protest was signed by hundreds of technologists and investors from prominent firms including OpenAI, Slack, IBM, and Salesforce Ventures. They argue the designation is a punitive measure for a contract dispute, not a genuine security assessment, and that it could stifle collaboration between the government and the tech sector. The standoff contrasts with the Pentagon's recent push to integrate cutting-edge AI. In July 2025, the Department of Defense awarded contracts worth up to $200 million each to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI capabilities. Anthropic had been the first AI company to have its models approved for use on the U.S. government's classified networks, a deployment that began in June 2024. Despite the ban, reports surfaced that U.S. forces used Anthropic's AI tools during strikes in Iran just hours after the directive was issued.
