Anthropic sues Pentagon and Trump administration over supply-chain risk designation
The AI company filed dual lawsuits Monday challenging the Pentagon's decision to label it a supply-chain risk, a designation typically reserved for firms with ties to foreign governments.
March 9, 2026 at 02:29 PM
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic filed two lawsuits Monday against the Department of Defense and other federal agencies, challenging the Pentagon's decision to designate it a supply-chain risk.
One lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; the second was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Anthropic accused the Pentagon of applying the designation inappropriately to punish the company on ideological grounds.
The supply-chain risk label effectively cuts off Anthropic's work with the Defense Department. The designation is typically applied to firms deemed a major national security risk, such as companies with ties to the government of China. According to the sources, the label has never before been used on an American company.
The Pentagon formally sanctioned Anthropic last week, capping a weeks-long public dispute over limits on the use of Anthropic's generative AI technology for military applications. The disagreement centered on the company's concerns about unlimited use of artificial intelligence in defense, particularly regarding autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.
In July, Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon. CEO Dario Amodei stated at that time that Anthropic's AI model Claude could not be used for mass surveillance in the United States or for autonomous weapons without human approval.
In its 48-page filing in California federal court, Anthropic stated that efforts by the Pentagon and the Trump administration to punish the company were "unprecedented and unlawful." The company argued in the filing that "the Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech. No federal statute authorizes the actions taken here."
Anthropic said it was "turning to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the Executive's unlawful campaign of retaliation." The lawsuit requested that a judge reverse the designation and stop federal agencies from enforcing it.
CEO Dario Amodei wrote in a blog post Thursday that the company did not believe the Pentagon's action was legally sound and saw no choice but to challenge it in court. Anthropic stated the lawsuit was "a necessary step to protect our business, our customers and our rights."