After CEO Dario Amodei refused the Department of War's demand to drop safeguards barring Claude's use for mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous weapons — a $200M contract clause the Pentagon wanted rewritten to permit "any lawful use" — President Trump posted on Truth Social ordering every federal agency to stop using Anthropic technology, with a six-month phaseout, and warned he would use "the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow." Defense Secretary Hegseth separately designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk," a label never before applied to an American company.

Amodei called the threats retaliatory and said Anthropic would challenge the designation in court; a judge later blocked the ban as illegal First Amendment retaliation.