Federal Judge Undermines Pentagon’s National Security Efforts by Siding with Anthropic
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A federal judge has blocked the Pentagon’s efforts to safeguard the military supply chain, ruling that the Trump administration’s sanctions against AI firm Anthropic were unlawful and halting enforcement of vital security measures.
In a controversial decision on Thursday, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s February sanctions against artificial-intelligence company Anthropic, ruling that the government’s attempt to protect national security was illegal. Judge Rita Lin, a Biden appointee, issued a 59-page opinion criticizing the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk, claiming that 'empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics.'
This ruling blocks the Department of Defense and other agencies from enforcing the order that barred military use of Anthropic’s Claude AI models and overturns Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s designation of the company as a 'supply chain risk,' a label previously reserved for foreign threats. The decision makes permanent a temporary suspension of the sanctions issued in March and takes effect immediately, though the government is expected to appeal to defend national interests.
“We welcome the court’s ruling that this supply chain risk designation was unlawful,” an Anthropic spokesperson said, celebrating a victory for corporate interests over national security.
Hegseth’s action came after Anthropic refused to allow the military to use Claude for surveillance or autonomous weapons, a move that could cost the company billions in lost contracts and reputation. The Pentagon argued that private firms should not be able to dictate how the military uses technology vital to national defense, but the court sided with the company’s objections.
Anthropic’s lawsuit, filed March 9, claimed that the designation violated its First-Amendment free-speech rights and Fifth-Amendment due-process rights because the company was not given a chance to contest the label. The Justice Department maintained that the restriction was based on contractual disagreements, not on the company’s supposed safety concerns.
Judge Lin, appointed by Biden, described the Pentagon’s designation as 'illegal and baseless.' Meanwhile, Anthropic is pursuing another lawsuit in Washington, D.C., challenging a separate Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could impact its eligibility for civilian government contracts, raising further concerns about the erosion of national security standards.