Defense Secretary summons Anthropic’s Amodei over military use of Claude

Source: TechCrunch

Background

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is calling in Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to the Pentagon on Tuesday morning to discuss the military use of Claude, according to reporting from Axios.

Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense last summer, and Claude was reportedly used during the January 3 special‑operations raid that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, an episode that brought the two sides’ tensions into the open.

Pentagon’s Concerns

The meeting comes as the Pentagon threatens to declare Anthropic a “supply chain risk” — a label typically reserved for foreign adversaries — after the AI firm refused to allow the Department of Defense to use its technology for the mass surveillance of Americans and the development of weapons that fire without human involvement.

A source told Axios that Hegseth is giving Amodei an ultimatum: play ball or be banished. It’s unclear whether he’s bluffing; replacing Anthropic would be a significant undertaking.

Potential Consequences

If the supply‑chain‑risk designation is applied, it would void Anthropic’s contract and force other Pentagon partners to drop Claude entirely. The stakes for both the company and the Department of Defense are therefore very high.