Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls White House’s actions “retaliatory and punitive”

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in an exclusive interview with CBS News Friday that the Pentagon’s decision to designate the AI company a supply chain risk was “retaliatory and punitive.”

Hours earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth deemed the company a “supply chain risk to national security,” which restricts military contractors from doing business with Anthropic. The move came after Anthropic refused to give the military unfettered access to its AI model.

Amodei told CBS News senior business and technology correspondent Jo Ling Kent that the actions were “unprecedented” and that “it was made very clear in some of their statements, in some of their language, that this was retaliatory and punitive.” He noted that Hegseth’s designation was the first ever issued for a U.S. company.

He said the company sought to draw “red lines” in the government’s use of its technology because “we believe that crossing those lines is contrary to American values, and we wanted to stand up for American values.”

“Disagreeing with the government is the most American thing in the world,” Amodei said. “And we are patriots. In everything we have done here, we have stood up for the values of this country.”

The CEO said that if he could speak to President Trump directly about the dispute, he would emphasize that Anthropic is made up of “patriotic Americans.”

“Everything we have done has been for the sake of this country, for the sake of supporting U.S. national security,” Amodei said. “Our leaning forward in deploying our models with the military was done because we believe in this country.”

In July 2025, the Pentagon awarded Anthropic a $200 million contract to develop AI capabilities that would advance U.S. national security. 

However, the Defense Department and the artificial intelligence company have been in negotiations over concerns from the AI startup that its model, Claude, could potentially be used for surveillance on Americans and the development and use of autonomous weapons. Anthropic sought certain guardrails over the Pentagon’s use of Claude, which it said were rejected.

On Friday, Mr. Trump in a social media post ordered all federal agencies to “immediately” halt their use of Anthropic’s technology. Mr. Trump said some agencies, including the Defense Department, would have six months to phase out their use of Anthropic.

Hegseth followed that up later Friday by declaring in his own social media post that Anthropic would be deemed a “supply chain risk to national security,” and said that no contractor who does business with the Pentagon can continue to conduct commercial activity with Anthropic.

The Pentagon had earlier this week given Anthropic a deadline of 5:01 p.m. to either reach a deal or lose its government contracts.

Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s chief technology officer, told CBS News on Thursday that the military had “made some very good concessions” to Anthropic. He later added that “at some level, you have to trust your military to do the right thing.”

Watch the full interview with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Saturday morning on CBSNews.com or on our YouTube channel.