Statement on Secretary Pete Hegseth's Remarks

In a Feb. 27, 2026 statement, Anthropic noted that Secretary Pete Hegseth posted remarks on X indicating that the U.S. Department of War intends to designate the company as a supply chain risk.

Anthropic explained that negotiations had reached an impasse over two exceptions. While Anthropic broadly supports lawful uses of Claude, it drew the line at mass domestic surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons, which it said it cannot permit.

The company argued that current frontier AI models are not yet reliable enough to be used in fully autonomous weapons, which could endanger both warfighters and civilians. It also stated that mass domestic surveillance infringes on fundamental rights.

Anthropic criticized the designation as an unprecedented action publicly applied to a U.S. company, calling it legally unjustified and warning it could set a risky precedent for other U.S. companies negotiating with the government. At the same time, the company maintained that it has provided its models on U.S. government classified networks since June 2024 and would continue to support American warfighters going forward.

Regarding the impact on customers, Anthropic explained that even if the designation is formalized, it should be limited to Department of War contract work only, and would not affect API, claude.ai, or other product usage by regular enterprise customers or commercial contract customers. It added that Department of War contractors could also continue using Claude for work outside of military contract activities.

The company stated that no threat or sanction would change its position on mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, and that if the designation is imposed, it will contest it in court.