The White House is preparing an executive order that would formally instruct every federal agency to remove Anthropic's AI systems from government operations, according to sources familiar with the matter. The move would escalate the administration's fight with the AI company, which filed a lawsuit Monday against the Pentagon over its recent designation as a supply chain risk. Government agencies like the Treasury Department have already begun offboarding Anthropic's Claude AI system ahead of the expected order.
Anthropic sued the Pentagon on Monday, arguing that Congress never granted the administration authority to blacklist an American company over protected speech. The administration has argued that Anthropic's safeguards pose a national security threat in the context of industry intervening during military operations. The Pentagon's supply chain risk designation triggered the current purge of Claude from federal systems, a process that could become mandatory across all agencies under the draft order.
President Trump stated last month that his administration would not use "woke AI," prompting agencies to begin removing Claude from their technology stacks. The executive order would formalize this stance into binding government-wide policy. The move breaks from Trump's first-term approach. In the case of Huawei, Trump did not explicitly name the company in his executive order; that required an act of Congress. There is little precedent for an order specifically naming an American company for exclusion outside standard procurement processes.
The White House could issue the order as soon as this week, one source said. The administration declined to comment on the draft order. If implemented, the executive order would require every federal agency to identify and remove Anthropic's systems, potentially disrupting ongoing AI projects and requiring agencies to find alternative providers for language models and other AI services currently handled by Claude.
The White House is preparing an executive order that would formally instruct every federal agency to remove Anthropic's AI systems from government operations, according to sources familiar with the matter. The move would escalate the administration's fight with the San Francisco-based AI company, which filed a lawsuit Monday against the Pentagon over its recent designation as a supply chain risk. Government agencies like the Treasury Department have already begun offboarding Anthropic's Claude AI system ahead of the expected order.
Anthropic sued the Pentagon on Monday, arguing that Congress never granted the administration authority to blacklist an American company over protected speech. The administration counters that Anthropic's built-in safeguards pose a national security threat when private industry attempts to intervene during military operations. The Pentagon's supply chain risk designation triggered the current purge of Claude from federal systems, a process that could become mandatory across all agencies under the draft order.
President Trump stated last month that his administration would not use "woke AI," prompting agencies to begin removing Claude from their technology stacks. The executive order would formalize this stance into binding government-wide policy. The move breaks from Trump's first-term approach of targeting foreign tech firms like Huawei through executive orders, as there is little precedent for specifically naming an American company for exclusion outside standard procurement processes.
The White House could issue the order as soon as this week, one source said. The administration declined to comment on the draft order. If implemented, the executive order would require every federal agency to identify and remove Anthropic's systems, potentially disrupting ongoing AI projects and requiring agencies to find alternative providers for language models and other AI services currently handled by Claude.
The company's lawsuit against the Pentagon represents its primary legal challenge to the administration's actions, though the executive order would complicate its position. Anthropic's argument centers on constitutional protections for corporate speech, while the administration frames the issue through national security powers. The outcome could determine whether the federal government can unilaterally sever ties with specific American technology companies without congressional approval.
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