Tech industry group with Anthropic, Google ‘concern’ to Pete Hegseth
U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for the Medal of Honor ceremony at the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, United States, on Monday, March 2, 2026.
Jim Lo Scalzo | EPA | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A technology industry group whose members include: Nvidia, Google and Anthropic sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday expressing concerns about his designation of a U.S. company as a supply chain risk.
The name Antropik is not included in the letter written by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), but the artificial intelligence company was given this label on Friday after failing to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Defense.
“We are concerned by recent reports that the War Department is considering implementing a supply chain risk assessment in response to a procurement dispute,” ITI wrote in its letter.
Among other members of ITI Microsoft, Apple And Amazon.
“Contract disputes should be resolved through ongoing negotiations between the parties or through the Ministry selecting alternative providers through established procurement channels,” ITI said. “Emergency authorities, such as supply chain risk designations, exist for true emergencies and are generally reserved for entities designated as foreign adversaries.”
Hegseth announced on Friday at X that Pentagon would tag Anthropic. “supply chain risk to national security” Shortly after President Donald Trump ordered all US government agencies to immediately stop using the company’s technology.
ITI’s letter cited established processes, including the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018 as well as the Federal Acquisition Security Council, to protect federal information systems from risks.
“FASCSA also provides private companies with several layers of procedural due process protections, including notice requirements and the opportunity to respond before making such a designation.” ITI wrote.
another letter Similar concerns, written jointly by the Software and Information Industry Association, TechNet, Computer and Communications Industry Association, and Business Software Alliance, were sent to President Trump on Wednesday.
Anthropic, which received a $200 million Defense Department contract in July, had asked the government to assure the company that its technology would not be used for autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon objected, demanding that the military be allowed to use the platform for all legitimate use cases.
anthropic He wrote in a statement Friday that he was “deeply saddened” by the decision.
“Designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk would be an unprecedented action; one that has historically been reserved for U.S. competitors but has never before been publicly applied to any American company,” Anthropic said.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced later that day that his company had reached an agreement with the Department of Defense, but he wrote to x “Imposing the SCR designation on Anthropic would be very bad for our industry, our country, and of course their company,” he said.
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