Defense experts defend Anthropic to Congress, slams Pentagon’s move
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei looks on after his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on February 19, 2026.
Ludovic Marin | Afp | Getty Images
A group of former defense and intelligence officials and policy experts sent a letter to Congress on Thursday calling for an investigation of the Pentagon’s decision to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk.
The purpose of deeming an asset a supply chain risk is to “protect the United States from infiltration by foreign adversaries,” the 30-member bipartisan coalition said in the letter shared with CNBC. The group called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision against Anthropic last Friday a “deep divide” that “set a dangerous precedent.”
Hegseth announced the directive on X after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic, whose Claude models and services have soared in popularity largely in the corporate world.
“The application of this tool to punish a U.S. firm that refuses to repeal safeguards against mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons is a category error whose consequences extend far beyond this dispute,” the group said in a letter addressed to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
Signatories include retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Donald Arthur, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Diana Banks Thompson., former Andreessen Horowitz general partner John O’Farrell, Kat Duffy of the Council on Foreign Affairs and Attractions, AI CEO Sean White.
“In terms of national security, the United States is in an artificial intelligence race that it cannot afford to lose,” the letter said. “Blacklisting one of America’s leading AI companies and demanding that thousands of its contractors and partners also sever ties does not strengthen our competitive position. It weakens it.”
The group is calling on Congress to “use its oversight authority to counter this improper use of executive power” and to impose legal barriers that “protect the United States from foreign threats and not discipline American companies for disagreeing with the executive branch.”
The letter comes a day after the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), whose members include: Nvidia, Google and Anthropic sent a letter to Hegseth expressing similar concerns.
“Contract disputes should be resolved through ongoing negotiations between the parties or through the Department selecting alternative providers through established procurement channels,” the ITI letter said. he said. “Emergency authorities, such as supply chain risk designations, exist for true emergencies and are generally reserved for entities designated as foreign adversaries.”
According to CNBC, several defense technology companies have told their employees to stop using Anthropic’s Claude service, following orders from the White House.
WRISTWATCH: Anthropic’s annual revenue exceeded $19 billion.
