Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth echoed President Trump’s criticism of X, saying it was “shrouded in the sacrosanct rhetoric of ‘effective altruism.'” [Anthropic and CEO Dario Amodei] The attempt to strong-arm the US military into submission is a despicable act of corporate virtue that puts Silicon Valley ideology above American lives. “Their real objective is undoubtedly to gain veto power over U.S. military operational decisions. That is unacceptable.”
Half-year grace period and battle for Claude’s successor
Under the plan, the Pentagon would terminate up to $200 million worth of contracts with Anthropic and require defense contractors and other vendors to certify that they are not using Anthropic’s Claude models in work related to the Pentagon, according to Axios. The government has given agents and contractors a six-month grace period to move to alternatives.
The transition could be particularly disruptive because Claude has been used in classified military systems, systems that support some of the Pentagon’s most sensitive intelligence, weapons development and operational planning.
