The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) is actively using Anthropic's most advanced artificial intelligence model, Mythos Preview, despite the Department of Defense (DoD) having officially labeled the AI startup a "supply chain risk." This revelation, reported by Axios, highlights a significant internal rift within the federal government regarding the adoption of cutting-edge AI technology.
The Pentagon had moved to sever ties with Anthropic in February, even directing its vendors to do the same, and is currently arguing in court that the company's tools threaten national security. However, internal demand for the technology appears to be overriding this directive, with the NSA and reportedly other DoD departments expanding their use of the very tools the Pentagon is contesting.
The friction originated during contract renegotiations earlier this year. The Pentagon demanded that Anthropic make its Claude model available for "all lawful purposes," a broad mandate the company resisted. Anthropic leadership pushed back, insisting on specific prohibitions against applications like mass domestic surveillance and the development of autonomous weaponry. This stance led some defense officials to claim the company cannot be trusted in critical military scenarios, a characterization Anthropic has denied.
Access to the powerful Mythos Preview model is tightly restricted to roughly 40 organizations, with Anthropic publicly naming only 12, including the U.K.'s AI Security Institute. The NSA is among the undisclosed agencies granted access. Most of these partners use the tool to scan their own digital environments for exploitable vulnerabilities, a key cybersecurity application.
In an effort to resolve the impasse, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The meeting was described as productive, with discussions focusing on how Mythos could be integrated across government sectors outside the Pentagon, suggesting the administration may seek ways to bypass the ongoing feud to ensure access to the technology.
