A statement from Dario Amodei
On March 4, 2026, Anthropic received a letter from the Department of War confirming that the company had been designated as a supply chain risk to America's national security.
As Anthropic previously stated, the company does not consider this action to be legally sound and sees no alternative but to contest it in court.
The language in the Department of War's letter-even if it were legally valid-aligns with Anthropic's earlier assessment that the overwhelming majority of customers remain unaffected by a supply chain risk designation. Regarding customers, the designation clearly applies only to the use of Claude as a direct component of contracts with the Department of War, and not to all usage of Claude by customers who happen to hold such contracts.
The Department's letter is narrow in scope, reflecting the narrow nature of the underlying statute (10 USC 3252). That law is designed to protect the government rather than penalize a supplier; indeed, it requires the Secretary of War to employ the least restrictive means necessary to safeguard the supply chain. Even for Department of War contractors, the designation does not and cannot restrict uses of Claude or business relationships with Anthropic that are unrelated to their specific Department of War contracts.
Dario Amodei reiterated that Anthropic had been engaged in productive discussions with the Department of War over the preceding days, exploring both how the company could serve the Department within the bounds of Anthropic's two narrow exceptions, and how to ensure a smooth transition if that proves unfeasible. As Anthropic noted earlier, the company takes great pride in the work it has done alongside the Department, supporting frontline warfighters through applications including intelligence analysis, modeling and simulation, operational planning, cyber operations, and more.
As Anthropic stated previously, the company does not believe-and has never believed-that it is the role of Anthropic or any private company to participate in operational decision-making, which is the responsibility of the military. Anthropic's only concerns have been its exceptions regarding fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance, which pertain to high-level usage areas rather than operational decision-making.
Amodei also offered a direct apology for an internal company post that was leaked to the press. Anthropic did not leak the post nor direct anyone else to do so, as escalation is not in the company's interest. The post was written within hours of the President's Truth Social post announcing the removal of Anthropic from all federal systems, the Secretary of War's X post announcing the supply chain risk designation, and the announcement of a Pentagon deal with OpenAI-which even OpenAI later described as confusing. It was a difficult day for the company, and Amodei apologized for the tone, noting it did not reflect his careful or considered views. He added that the post was written six days prior and represented an outdated assessment of the situation.
Anthropic's top priority is ensuring that warfighters and national security experts are not deprived of critical tools during major combat operations. The company will continue providing its models to the Department of War and the national security community at nominal cost, with ongoing engineering support, for as long as needed to facilitate the transition and for as long as it is permitted to do so.
Anthropic has far more in common with the Department of War than differences. Both are committed to advancing U.S. national security and defending the American people, and both recognize the urgency of applying AI across the government. All of Anthropic's future decisions will be guided by that shared premise.