Anthropic is standing firm in its dispute with the US Department of War after receiving an official letter designating it as a supply-chain risk, signaling that the company is unlikely to concede to the Pentagon’s demands over the military use of its frontier models. “I would like to reiterate that we had been having productive conversations with the Department of War over the last several days, both about ways we could serve the Department that adhere to our two narrow exceptions, and ways for us to ensure a smooth transition if that is not possible,” CEO Dario Amodei wrote in a blog post clarifying the company’s current position on the imbroglio. Amodei’s statement makes it evidently clear that the company does not intend to yield to the Pentagon’s demands if doing so would require it to cross its own ethical red lines, which include using its AI models in weapon systems and for mass domestic surveillance. In fact, the company says it is ready to cooperate with the department to help phase out its technology. Ready to walk the talk with industry support Amodei wrote that he sees no other alternative but to challenge the Department of War’s designation of his company as a supply-chain risk in court, as reiterated last week . “The Department’s letter has a narrow scope, and this is because the relevant statute ( 10 USC 3252 ) is narrow, too. It exists to protect the government rather than to punish a supplier; in fact, the law requires the Secretary of War to use the least restrictive means necessary to accomplish the goal of protecting the supply chain,” Amodei wrote. Experts have told Computerworld that Amodei may be right, as the “legal” advantage could be with Anthropic despite precedents that US government departments have previously won similar disputes . The Information and Technology Council , an industry group representing major technology companies including Amazon, Nvidia, Apple, and OpenAI, reportedly , in a letter to Secretary ‌of War Pete Hegseth , also hinted that labelling Anthropic as a supply-chain risk was an overreach, as that label is usually reserved for companies that have been marked as foreign adversaries. Anthropic’s investors and backers, too, after a meeting with Amodei, are also believed to be lobbying their contacts in Washington to de-escalate the situation. Amodei tries to reassure customers However, despite the show of resolve and allies rushing to its side, Anthropic seems focused on making sure the standoff doesn’t rattle existing customers or slow revenue from new government-related business. Amodei used the blog post to reassure customers, particularly defense and government contractors, that the dispute does not affect Anthropic’s ability to serve them. “Even for Department of War contractors, the supply chain risk designation doesn’t (and can’t) limit uses of Claude or business relationships with Anthropic if those are unrelated to their specific Department of War contracts,” Amodei wrote, stressing that the designation applies narrowly to the Department of War’s own procurement processes. Damage control? As part of the blog post, Amodei also apologized for an internal memo that was leaked to the press and that painted OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in a negative light for swooping in to secure a deal after the Department of War and Anthropic couldn’t reach one. “I also want to apologize directly for a post internal to the company that was leaked to the press yesterday. Anthropic did not leak this post nor direct anyone else to do so — it is not in our interest to escalate this situation. That particular post was written within a few hours of the President’s Truth Social post announcing Anthropic would be removed from all federal systems, the Secretary of War’s X post announcing the supply chain risk designation, and the announcement of a deal between the Pentagon and OpenAI, which even OpenAI later characterized as confusing,” Amodei wrote. “It was a difficult day for the company, and I apologize for the tone of the post. It does not reflect my careful or considered views. It was also written six days ago, and is an out-of-date assessment of the current situation,” Amodei added. The apology, though, comes only after OpenAI executive Connie LaRossa, reportedly , told delegates at a conference in California on Wednesday that her company shared the same ethical red lines as Anthropic and was working to support efforts to have Anthropic’s supply-chain risk designation removed.