'Illegal and baseless': US judge blocks the Pentagon blacklisting of
Anthropic as a supply chain risk

Date:
Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:35:00 +0000

Description:
The Pentagon previously called Anthropic a supply chain risk this US federal judge just said that was totally "illegal and baseless."

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Anthropic emerges victorious in legal battle against Pentagon over supply chain risk designation The Pentagon wanted to use Anthropic's models for autonomous weapons and surveillance
Judge rules that the Pentagon's supply chain risk claims were "baseless" A US federal judge has blocked the Pentagon's attempt to blacklist Anthropic in a major win for the Claude maker amid its ongoing battle against the US
military over how its AI models can be used.

The Pentagon had previously demanded that Anthropic allow its Claude models
to be used for 'any lawful purpose', including military applications, but the company refused to remove two key restrictions it's placed on Claude use fully autonomous weapons and mass/domestic citizen surveillance are still banned by the AI firm. Despite huge advanced in AI technology, Anthropic argues that today's models are still not reliable enough to make autonomous lethal decisions safely. It also worries over the ethical and civil impacts
of AI-powered surveillance. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Pentagon loses battle against Anthropic In response, the Pentagon
argued that private AI companies should not be able to dictate how the US military conducts its operations.

After failing to negotiate unrestricted use of Anthropic's models, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went on to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk, restricting it from certain military contracts. Anthropic warned this could lose it billions in lost business and reputation damage. You may like Anthropics Fable 5 is back after US shutdown it called 'a misunderstanding' 'Way out of line': The US government is being sued for executive order restricting foreign access to Project Glasswing Anthropic blocks Mythos 5 and Fable 5 access under US government orders

Judge Lin has since agreed that the Pentagon's actions are "illegal and baseless," finding that the government had unlawfully retaliated against Anthropic. "The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics," she wrote.

The court also found a major weakness in the Pentagon's case the government continued to work closely with Anthropic even after publicly portraying it as a supply chain threat. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners
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Importantly not just for Anthropic, but all private companies, is that the US government must not use national security powers against technology companies that disagree with its policy.

"We welcome the court's ruling that this supply chain risk designation was unlawful," an Anthropic spokesperson shared. "We remain focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology."

The Pentagon has not yet publicly commented on the case, but Anthropic does have one further lawsuit pending, so the Pentagon could be waiting for that
to come to a close. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/illegal-and-baseless-us-judge-blocks-the-pentago n-blacklisting-of-anthropic-as-a-supply-chain-risk


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