Anthropic says DoW designation is narrow and plans court challenge

Anthropic published a statement from CEO Dario Amodei saying the company received a letter on March 4 confirming a "supply chain risk" designation from the Department of War. The company says it will challenge the action in court, arguing that the decision is not legally sound.

The statement emphasizes scope. According to Anthropic, the designation applies to the use of Claude only when it is a direct part of Department of War contracts, not to every customer relationship involving organizations that also do government work. Anthropic points to the statute cited in the letter, 10 USC 3252, and argues that the law is designed to protect government procurement with the least restrictive means, not to impose a blanket market ban.

Anthropic also says it had ongoing discussions with the Department about two paths: operating under Anthropic's existing policy exceptions, or managing a transition if that was not possible. The company repeats that it has supported military and national-security use cases such as intelligence analysis, modeling and simulation, operational planning, and cyber operations, while maintaining two explicit red lines: fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance.

A notable part of the statement addresses communication risk. Amodei apologized for an internal post that leaked to the press, saying the tone did not reflect his considered position and was written during a high-pressure period that included multiple public announcements by government and industry actors.

Operationally, Anthropic says it will continue to provide models to relevant government users at nominal cost, with engineering support, during any transition period and while legally permitted. For the broader AI ecosystem, this episode highlights how procurement law, model safety policies, and strategic government demand can all shift enterprise AI roadmaps at the same time.

Original source: Anthropic statement (Dario Amodei)
Community source: Hacker News discussion