Anthropic vs. The Pentagon: what enterprises should do

The relationship between one of Silicon Valley's most lucrative and powerful AI model makers, Anthropic, and the U.S. government reached a breaking point on Friday, February 27, 2026.

President Donald J. Trump and the White House posted on social media ordering all federal agencies to immediately cease using technology from Anthropic, the maker of the powerful Claude family of AI models, after reportedly months of renegotiating a less than two-year-old contract. Following the President’s lead, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he was directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a "Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," a blacklisting traditionally reserved for foreign adversaries like Huawei or Kaspersky Lab.

The move effectively terminates Anthropic's $200 million military contract and sets a hard six-month deadline for the Department of War to scrub Claude from its systems.

But Anthropic's business has been booming lately, with its Claude ...