Tech industry rallies behind Anthropic in Pentagon fight
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Tech industry groups representing hundreds of companies are urging a court to pause the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic.
Why it matters: The Pentagon didn't just stop doing business with Anthropic — it labeled the company a supply chain risk, a move industry says could chill innovation and reshape how the government treats AI vendors.
Driving the news: Major tech industry groups representing companies with Pentagon contracts filed an amicus brief calling for a pause on the designation.
- "The government has ample, well-established tools to resolve procurement disputes and to contract with providers on whatever terms it prefers," the March 13 court filing states.
- What they can't do, the filing says, is "misuse extraordinary national security authorities designed for foreign adversary sabotage" because of a disagreement with a contractor — or ignore congressional protections and "upend the legal framework on which the entire technology contracting community depends."
The filing was signed by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), and TechNet.
- Google, OpenAI, Meta, Cloudflare, Adobe, Accenture, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Deloitte are among the many companies represented by the groups.
- The industry groups say the move bypassed the typical procurement and supply-chain security processes that Congress created to deal with situations like the Pentagon-Anthropic dispute.
Catch up quick: Anthropic is suing the Pentagon and other federal agencies, alleging the designation violates the company's First Amendment rights and exceeds congressional authority.
- President Trump has also told the federal government to stop using Anthropic's Claude.
Between the lines: This fight is a major test of how aggressively the government can regulate AI companies through procurement decisions.
The other side: The Pentagon labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk after officials said the company was trying to impose "woke" usage policies on sensitive military operations.
- The Pentagon is offering a deadline extension to off-board Anthropic, which undersecretary Emil Michael says could be needed for ongoing sensitive operations but, ultimately, the department is looking to rip and replace the company.
The bottom line: Industry isn't buying it.
- If the government can blacklist a company and claim it's a security risk, the entire procurement system "becomes contingent on political favor rather than the rule of law," the groups wrote in the brief.
What's next: A hearing on whether to grant Anthropic temporary relief is set for March 24.
