Pentagon formally designates Anthropic a supply chain risk amid feud over AI guardrails

The U.S. military has formally designated artificial intelligence firm Anthropic a supply chain risk, a senior Pentagon official and a source directly familiar with the situation told CBS News, a sweeping move that could cut it off from military contracts.

The Trump administration and Anthropic — the only AI company deployed on the Pentagon’s classified networks — are at an impasse over Anthropic’s push for guardrails that would explicitly ban the U.S. military from using its Claude model to conduct mass surveillance on Americans or power fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon has said it needs the ability to use Claude for “all lawful purposes.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week that Anthropic would be cut off from its government contracts and designated a supply chain risk, but Anthropic had not received formal notification of that step until Wednesday. 

Hegseth said the military will phase out Anthropic over six months. 

This is a breaking story; it will be updated.