Anthropic Sues Trump Administration, Accuses War Secretary Pete Hegseth Of Retaliatory Blacklisting Over Pentagon AI

Anthropic sued the Trump administration Monday in federal court in San Francisco, alleging it was effectively blacklisted after the company sought to restrict the Pentagon's use of its Claude chatbot for "mass surveillance and weaponry."

“The artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic sued several U”

ABC

The complaint centers on a change in government policy under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that led to Anthropic being flagged as a supply-chain risk, and Anthropic is seeking court orders to reverse and prevent further harm to its reputation and operations.

ABC

Anthropic accuses War Secretary Pete Hegseth of retaliatorily labeling the company a 'supply-chain risk'.

Anthropic says it is the first U.S. company to receive that designation and calls the move unprecedented.

Bloomberg Law News

Coverage emphasizes that the legal label typically targets firms seen as serious national-security threats, often because of alleged ties to foreign governments.

Anthropic says the designation had never before been applied to a U.S. firm.

The lawsuit frames the Hegseth designation as punitive and unlawful, arguing the government cannot punish a company for protected speech.

“Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup, filed a lawsuit on Monday in a federal court in California to block the Department of Defense’s (now the Department of War) decision to place it on a national security blacklist, taking to the courts a conflict that has been brewing for months between the company and the Trump administration over an unresolved question: who gets to decide how and for what purposes a technology capable of changing the very nature of war, surveillance, and power is used”

Diario de Sevilla

Anthropic’s filing follows a public controversy involving CEO Dario Amodei.

The company issued an apology after a leaked 1,600-word critique of the Trump administration.

Amodei said the company had "no choice" but to challenge the label in court.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the matter because of ongoing litigation.

Some reporting on the case is limited in the provided excerpts or behind paywalls.

El Independiente

The available snippets note the Pentagon’s silence.

They also say that fuller coverage in some outlets, such as Bloomberg Law and The Wall Street Journal, may not be accessible without complete articles or subscriptions.