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New court filing reveals Pentagon told Anthropic the two sides were nearly aligned — a week after Trump declared the relationship kaput

Read the full articleNew court filing reveals Pentagon told Anthropic the two sides were nearly aligned — a week after Trump declared the relationship kaput on TechCrunch

What Happened

Anthropic submitted two sworn declarations to a California federal court late Friday afternoon, pushing back on the Pentagon's assertion that the AI company poses an "unacceptable risk to national security" and arguing that the government's case relies on technical misunderstandings and claims that

Our Take

Trump admin's framing Anthropic as a 'national security risk' is political theater, and the court filing proves it. Anthropic's defense is solid—technical misunderstandings and exaggerated claims don't hold up under scrutiny. The government's case looks weak because it is.

That said, the real risk isn't legal. It's that the admin finds a different lever (export controls, infrastructure restrictions, whatever) to pressure Anthropic. The company's in a weird spot: too big to ignore, too AI-forward for comfort, and working with the Pentagon anyway. They'll survive this filing. But the pressure won't stop.

What To Do

If you're building AI infrastructure, assume future administrations will weaponize national security arguments—diversify your partnerships accordingly.

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