{"slug": "top-pentagon-official-reaffirms-anthropic-blacklist-despite-lutnick-comments", "title": "Top Pentagon official reaffirms Anthropic blacklist despite Lutnick comments", "summary": "Pentagon official Emil Michael said on Thursday that Anthropic remains a designated 'supply chain risk' for the Department of Defense and the Defense Industrial Base, contradicting Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's statement that the company is 'back on the right side.' The conflicting remarks highlight a lack of alignment within the Trump administration over Anthropic, which is still fighting a separate Pentagon designation under a different statute in the D.C. Circuit after a federal judge struck down its blacklisting in August.", "body_md": "Pentagon official Emil Michael on Thursday said that Anthropic is still considered a \"supply chain risk,\" a day after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the company is \"back on the right side.\"\nWhy it matters: The Trump administration is not entirely aligned on one of the world's leading AI labs following months of fighting over how the military can use its models.\nWhat they're saying: \"Anthropic is still a designated Supply Chain Risk at @DeptofWar and for the Defense Industrial Base. Thank you for your attention to this matter!\" Michael posted on X.\nCatch up quick: Lutnick told Axios' Mike Allen on the sidelines of the G20 Innovation Summit this week: \"We trust Anthropic.\"\n\"They've done what we asked. They're back on the right side. So the answer is: Yes,\" Lutnick said when asked if he trusts Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.\nPersonality differences under Amodei's leadership added fuel to the fire in a clash between the Trump administration and Anthropic earlier this year, but the company has been elevating co-founder Tom Brown's role in its relationship with the White House.\nYes, but: A federal judge in August struck down the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk, but the company is still fighting a separate Pentagon designation under a different statute in the D.C. Circuit.\nThe bottom line: Anthropic is not completely out of the woods with the Trump administration as Brown increasingly takes center stage.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/top-pentagon-official-reaffirms-anthropic-blacklist-despite-lutnick-comments", "canonical_source": "https://www.machinebrief.com/news/top-pentagon-official-reaffirms-anthropic-blacklist-despite-b41c", "published_at": "2026-09-03 15:48:46+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-03 16:53:28.155871+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Emil Michael", "Anthropic", "Howard Lutnick", "Department of Defense", "Dario Amodei", "Tom Brown"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/top-pentagon-official-reaffirms-anthropic-blacklist-despite-lutnick-comments", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/top-pentagon-official-reaffirms-anthropic-blacklist-despite-lutnick-comments.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/top-pentagon-official-reaffirms-anthropic-blacklist-despite-lutnick-comments.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/top-pentagon-official-reaffirms-anthropic-blacklist-despite-lutnick-comments.jsonld"}}