Anthropic may keep supplying Claude to the NSA despite being flagged as a supply chain risk by the Pentagon

May 24, 2026

Anthropic, which the US government has labeled a "supply chain risk," will likely keep delivering AI models to the NSA anyway. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles personally approved the arrangement, the New York Times reports. Intelligence agencies don't have enough of Nvidia's latest Grace Blackwell chips to run current models from OpenAI and others. Anthropic's new "Mythos" model runs on older chips too, making it supposedly the only short-term fix for the NSA's classified networks, according to the report.

The Pentagon had previously classified Anthropic as a supply chain threat because the company refused to release its technology for "any lawful use." A contract now being finalized includes a clause barring the model from processing Americans' data. The controversial "any lawful use" language that derailed earlier talks is reportedly not part of the deal. The White House wants to use the contract as a template for future agreements with other companies.

Separately, the White House has approved $9 billion for new AI chips to address the shortage long-term. Congress still needs to sign off.

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