U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Pentagon Blacklisting of Anthropic

A U.S. federal appeals court has upheld the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a national-security supply-chain risk, keeping the Claude maker excluded from military supply chains.
The D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 against Anthropic, finding that the Pentagon had sufficient grounds to conclude that Claude’s built-in restrictions could create operational risks for the military.
The court pointed to instances where Anthropic’s safeguards prevented Claude from completing tasks requested by government users, as well as uncertainty over whether the model would perform as required during military operations.
Anthropic has defended those restrictions as necessary safeguards against uses including lethal autonomous warfare and domestic surveillance.
The company says it disagrees with the ruling and is considering further judicial review.
The decision extends a major dispute over how much control AI companies should retain over the government’s use of their models, particularly in national-security applications.
It could also add uncertainty ahead of Anthropic’s highly anticipated IPO, with the company previously arguing that the Pentagon designation had already damaged its reputation and cost it significant business.