Anthropic 'drew the line' on Pentagon demands for access to autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of Americans

Dustin @r0ck3t23
Dario Amodei just gave his first interview since the Pentagon blacklisted his company. The toll is visible on his face.

He was asked one question. What would you say to the President right now?

He didn’t hesitate.

Amodei: “We are patriotic Americans. Everything we have done has been for the sake of this country.”

Anthropic built their models to defend America. They were the first AI lab cleared for classified military systems. They wanted to help the warfighter.

But the Pentagon demanded unrestricted access to fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens.

Amodei drew the line.

The government responded with emergency Cold War powers. A supply chain designation normally reserved for foreign adversaries. A six-month federal phaseout ordered from Truth Social.

Amodei: “When we were threatened with supply chain designation and Defense Production Act, which are unprecedented intrusions into the private economy, we exercised our classic First Amendment rights to speak up and disagree with the government.”

The administration framed Anthropic’s refusal as anti-American.

Amodei’s response dismantled that framing in one sentence.

Amodei: “Disagreeing with the government is the most American thing in the world.”

Here is the deeper paradox nobody in Washington wants to say out loud.

We are in a geopolitical race against autocratic adversaries who use AI for mass surveillance of their own citizens and autonomous weapons with no human oversight.

The Pentagon demanded that Anthropic build those exact capabilities for America.

Amodei: “The red lines we have drawn, we drew because we believe that crossing those red lines is contrary to American values.”

You cannot defeat authoritarianism by adopting its methods.

You cannot defend the open society by forcing private companies to build its antithesis under threat of wartime emergency powers.

Anthropic held the line. Got blacklisted for it. And came out the other side saying the same thing they said going in.

That is what it actually looks like to mean it.

Link to tweet

For months, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has insisted that Anthropic's AI model, Claude, must not be used for mass surveillance in the U.S. or to power entirely autonomous weapons, such as a drone that uses AI to kill targets without human approval. He has described those uses as "entirely illegitimate" and says they are "bright red lines" for the company.

"I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries," the CEO wrote in a lengthy statement about the impasse. "Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions. We have never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner," he said.

"However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values," Amodei continued. He described domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons as uses that are "simply outside the bounds of what today's technology can safely and reliably do." Those uses "have never been included in our contracts with the Department of War, and we believe they should not be included now," he added.
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/26/nx-s1-5727847/anthropic-defense-hegseth-ai-weapons-surveillance


Pete Hegseth and the Department of War are requiring that Anthropic remove usage guidelines that prevent using Claude for autonomous weaponry and mass surveillance.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what-the-defense-production-act-can-and-can't-do-to-anthropic