By Reuters
May 2, 2026
The Pentagon said it reached agreements with seven AI companies to deploy their advanced capabilities on Defense Department classified networks, while excluding Anthropic amid disputes over guardrails and supply-chain risk.
SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services will be integrated into the Pentagon’s secret and top-secret environments, providing military access to their products for sensitive work, the department said. Reflection, a lesser-known AI firm that raised $2 billion in October, is backed by 1789 Capital, a venture firm in which Donald Trump Jr. is a partner and investor.
Anthropic, a widely used AI startup inside the Defense Department, was labeled a “supply-chain risk” earlier this year and barred from Pentagon use and by contractors. The two sides have been embroiled in a lawsuit after the March designation, and the company’s exclusion stems from concerns about guardrails on military use of its tools.
Since the Anthropic dispute, the Pentagon has accelerated the process for incorporating newer AI entrants into secret and top-secret data levels to under three months, down from 18 months or more. Expanding services aims to avoid “vendor lock,” a likely reference to overdependence on any single provider.
Pentagon staff, former officials and IT contractors told Reuters they were reluctant to give up Anthropic’s tools, which some view as superior, despite orders to remove them within six months. AI use has grown rapidly in the military: the Pentagon’s main AI platform, GenAI.mil, has been used by over 1.3 million Defense Department personnel after five months of operation.
Google has signed a deal enabling the Defense Department to use its AI models for classified work, sources told Reuters.
Defense Department Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael told CNBC Anthropic remained a supply-chain risk. He said Mythos, Anthropic’s model with advanced cyber capabilities that alarmed U.S. officials and corporate America for its potential to supercharge hackers, represented a separate national security moment. Numerous companies and public and private entities have accessed a Mythos preview to help secure IT infrastructure, but it is unclear whether the Pentagon is part of that program.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last week Anthropic was “shaping up” in the administration’s view, potentially opening the door to reversing its Pentagon blacklisting.
