Follow up to Open AI and Anthropic respond to Defense Department demands differently – See also Lawfare – Pentagon’s Anthropic Designation Won’t Survive First Contact with Legal System. “This is designation as political theater: a show of force that will not stick. On Feb. 27, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic—the maker of the AI model Claude—a supply chain risk to national security. This came immediately after a Truth Social post from President Trump directing “EVERY Federal Agency” to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE” using Anthropic’s technology. Hegseth’s designation includes a six-month transition period during which Anthropic will continue providing services to the military during the transition. Anthropic, in turn, has vowed to “challenge any supply chain risk designation in court.” The escalation capped off a turbulent week. The dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic over two usage restrictions in Anthropic’s military contract—prohibitions on autonomous weapons and mass surveillance—had been building since January, when Hegseth’s AI strategy memorandum directed that all Department of Defense AI contracts adopt standard “any lawful use” language. Hegseth met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei earlier in the week and threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel the company’s cooperation. But on Friday the Trump administration had apparently dropped the DPA threat in favor of something more dramatic: a formal supply chain risk designation and a government-wide ban. From the government’s perspective, Claude does pose some concerning vendor reliability issues. But the specific actions Hegseth and Trump took have serious legal problems. The designation exceeds what the statute authorizes. The required findings don’t hold up. And Hegseth’s own public statements may have doomed the government’s litigation posture before it even begins…”