The United States Exclude Anthropic from Federal Agencies

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced on the morning of February 28, 2026, that he was excluding Anthropic from all federal agencies. These agencies are now prohibited from using the AI giant’s technologies. This decision follows an ultimatum issued by the U.S. Department of Defense as part of a $200 million contract (171 million euros) signed in 2025 with Anthropic.

The Pentagon demanded that the company lift two ethical restrictions on the use of its technologies: the mass surveillance of American citizens and the use of fully autonomous weapons. Donald Trump terminated the agreement half a day before the ultimatum expired. He gave federal services six months to “disentangle” Claude, the company’s AI agent, from their classified systems.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth then indicated that Anthropic now represents a “risk to the national security supply chain.” This classification is usually reserved for foreign actors considered too close to rival regimes, such as the Chinese company Huawei. Anthropic intends to challenge the legality of this decision in court, arguing that Pete Hegseth did not have the authority to take such action.

On the afternoon of February 28, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, one of Anthropic’s main competitors, announced that his company had reached an agreement with the Department of Defense to “deploy [its] models within the Pentagon’s classified networks.” According to him, this contract provides for the strict respect of the two ethical principles defended by Anthropic, with the approval of the Department.