Anthropic Engages Trump Administration Despite Pentagon Supply-Chain Risk Designation

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday, April 18, 2026, in what the White House described as a productive introductory discussion. The AI company confirmed the meeting focused on potential collaboration with U.S. government officials regarding cybersecurity, AI safety, and maintaining American leadership in artificial intelligence. This engagement occurs despite the Pentagon's recent designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk, a label typically applied to foreign adversaries that could restrict government use of its models. Anthropic is legally challenging that designation, which originated from failed negotiations over military applications of its technology. The company had sought to maintain safeguards against using its models for fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. Treasury Secretary Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reportedly encouraged major banks to test Anthropic's new Mythos model, indicating broader administrative interest. An administration source told Axios that every agency except the Department of Defense wants to utilize Anthropic's technology. Co-founder Jack Clark characterized the Pentagon dispute as a narrow contracting issue that wouldn't hinder government briefings about new models.