The defense secretary has threatened to cancel the AI startup’s Pentagon work and designate it a supply chain risk, according to a person granted anonymity to describe sensitive talks.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has threatened to terminate Anthropic’s contract with the Pentagon by Friday unless the AI startup agrees to the Trump administration’s terms of use, according to a person familiar with the matter.
In a Tuesday meeting with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Hegseth warned the company to set aside concerns over how its technology may be used by the Defense Department or face being designated a supply chain risk, according to the person who was granted anonymity to describe sensitive talks. The person said Hegseth also threatened to use the Cold War-era Defense Production Act against Anthropic.
Anthropic’s ties to the Pentagon came under scrutiny following a report that its AI model Claude was used by the U.S. military during a January operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The company refuses to allow its products to be used for mass domestic surveillance of U.S. citizens or in physical attacks where AI makes targeting decisions without human input — two red lines that Amodei reiterated to Hegseth on Tuesday, per the person familiar with their conversation.
In a statement, Anthropic spokesperson Maya Humes confirmed the Tuesday meeting between Hegseth and Amodei. She said the two men “continued good-faith conversations about our usage policy to ensure Anthropic can continue to support the government’s national security mission in line with what our models can reliably and responsibly do.”
A senior Pentagon official told POLITICO that Anthropic has until 5:01pm on Friday before the DoD invokes the Defense Production Act on the company in a bid to compel the use of its models. The official said Hegseth will also label Anthropic a supply chain risk at that time. The official added that the dispute has nothing to do with mass surveillance or autonomous weapon use and that the Pentagon follows the law.