New court filing reveals Pentagon told Anthropic the two sides were nearly aligned — a week after Trump declared the relationship kaput
TechCrunch / 3/21/2026
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Key Points
- Anthropic submitted two sworn declarations to a California federal court, pushing back on the Pentagon's claim that the company poses an unacceptable risk to national security.
- The filings argue that the government's case relies on technical misunderstandings and on claims that were never raised during months of negotiations.
- The filing notes that the Pentagon indicated the sides were nearly aligned about a week after Trump declared the relationship kaput.
- The dispute underscores ongoing tensions between AI vendors and defense agencies and could influence future regulatory and procurement dynamics around AI safety.
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 were never actually raised during the months of negotiations.
