Technology employees across the United States have sent an open letter to the Pentagon urging it to withdraw a reported “supply chain risk” designation applied to AI company Anthropic, arguing the move amounts to retaliation and could damage America’s AI leadership.
In the letter, signatories wrote: “We write as founders, engineers, investors, and executives in the American technology industry. We strongly believe the federal government should not retaliate against a private company for declining to accept changes to a contract.”
The letter further states: “Instead, the Department of War has designated Anthropic a ‘supply chain risk’ (a label normally reserved for foreign adversaries)… Punishing an American company for declining to accept changes to a contract sends a clear message to every technology company in America: accept whatever terms the government demands, or face retaliation.”
The signatories added: “The United States is winning the AI competition because of its commitment to free enterprise and the rule of law; undermining that commitment to punish one company is short‑sighted and antithetical to our national security interests. We urge the Department of War to withdraw its supply chain risk designation and resolve this dispute through normal commercial channels.”
The dispute follows tensions between Anthropic and U.S. defense authorities over contractual terms tied to the company’s AI systems and safety principles.
In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump sharply criticized the company, writing: “The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG‑ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution.”
Trump added: “WE will decide the fate of our Country – NOT some out‑of‑control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about.”
In a separate statement referenced in coverage of the dispute, Trump wrote: “Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY… We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again! …”
Anthropic responded publicly to the criticism, stating: “No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.”
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman weighed in on social media, writing: “Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems… we put them into our agreement.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also addressed the matter on X, stating: “Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.”
The Department of Defense has not publicly detailed the specific criteria behind the reported supply chain risk classification. Such designations are typically used in federal procurement to assess vendor exposure to national security vulnerabilities, including foreign influence, infrastructure dependencies, and compliance risks.
The episode underscores the broader debate over how the U.S. government balances national security oversight with private‑sector innovation in artificial intelligence. As federal agencies accelerate AI adoption across defense, cybersecurity, and intelligence operations, scrutiny of AI vendors — and the contractual terms governing their systems — is expected to intensify.
