1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I am writing to express serious concern about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's ultimatum to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, demanding the company surrender control over how its Claude AI model is used by the military. This represents government overreach that threatens both private sector innovation and fundamental civil liberties. The Pentagon's demand for unfettered access to Claude, including potential use in mass surveillance systems, crosses a dangerous line. Anthropic has legitimate concerns about allowing its technology to be deployed for indiscriminate monitoring of civilians or autonomous weapons systems that can kill without human oversight. These are not unreasonable guardrails. They reflect responsible corporate governance and alignment with international humanitarian law principles. The timing of this pressure campaign is particularly troubling. Just days before issuing this ultimatum, the Department of Defense signed a deal with Elon Musk's xAI chatbot for classified systems, despite recent backlash over that system producing nonconsensual sexualized images of children. Meanwhile, Anthropic, which has consistently advocated for stronger AI safety standards, faces threats of contract cancellation and designation as a "supply chain risk" simply for maintaining ethical boundaries on its intellectual property. The Pentagon already has contracts worth up to $200 million with multiple AI firms including OpenAI and Google. There is no national security justification for coercing one company to abandon its safety principles, particularly when alternative providers exist. Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael's public campaign demanding Anthropic "cross the Rubicon" suggests this is about forcing ideological compliance rather than operational necessity. Private companies have the right to set terms for how their intellectual property is used. The government should not weaponize contract leverage to compel participation in surveillance programs that may violate constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure. I urge you to publicly oppose the Pentagon's coercive tactics against Anthropic and support legislation that protects companies from retaliation when they establish ethical boundaries for their technology.