Pentagon informed Anthropic it is a supply chain risk, official says

The Pentagon slapped a formal supply-chain risk designation on artificial intelligence lab Anthropic on March 5, limiting use of a technology
that a source said was being tapped for military operations in Iran.

The risk designation follows a months-long dispute over the company’s insistence on safeguards that the Defence Department said went too far.

The “supply-chain risk” label, effective immediately, bars government contractors from using Anthropic’s technology in their work for the US military.

The action comes as the department is relying on Anthropic’s technology, called Claude, to provide support for military operations, including in Iran, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The action represented an extraordinary rebuke by the US against an American tech company that was earlier than its rivals to work with the Pentagon.

Claude likely is being used to analyse intelligence and assist with operational planning.

Palantir’s Maven Smart Systems – a software platform that supplies militaries with intelligence analysis and weapons targeting – uses multiple prompts and workflows that were built using Anthropic’s Claude code, Reuters earlier reported.

Anthropic was the most aggressive of its rivals in courting US national-security officials. But the company and the Pentagon have been at odds for months over how the military can use its technology on the battlefield. This conflict erupted into public view earlier in 2026.

Anthropic has refused to back down on bans for its Claude AI to power autonomous weapons and mass US surveillance. The Pentagon has pushed back, saying it should be able to tap this technology as needed, so long as the uses comply with US law.

The “supply-chain risk” label now gives Anthropic a status that Washington until now had typically been used for foreign adversaries. Similar US action was taken to remove Chinese tech giant Huawei from the Pentagon’s supply chains. REUTERS