Pentagon CTO Emil Michael: Anthropic continues to be ‘national security risk’, but with …

The Department of War is currently having a complicated relationship with the AI startup Anthropic. On one hand, it has been labelled as a “supply chain risk”, while on the other, it’s latest model is being called as an asset with Pentagon Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Emil Michael calling Mythos a critical “national security moment”.“I think the Mythos issue… is a separate national security moment where we have to make sure our networks are hardened up,” Michael told CNBC’s Squawk Box, while noting that the government must evaluate the model’s high-end capabilities to protect American infrastructure. Mythos is an AI model by Anthropic that offers advanced cyber capabilities. Unlike standard chatbots, Mythos is specifically designed to find and patch cyber vulnerabilities.

Anthorpic’s public feud with Pentagon

The relationship between the Pentagon and Anthropic soured earlier this year after the two sides failed to agree on how the agency could safely use the company’s models. This led the DOD to officially designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk.Despite the official “risk” label, the US military is reportedly already putting Anthropic’s tech to work. The DOD has used the company’s models to support military efforts in the war in Iran, and the National Security Agency (NSA) is reportedly already using Mythos.“NSA and Commerce evaluates all frontier models… to see what the capabilities are at the edge,” Michael explained, defending the need to study even high-risk technology.

Anthropic may get a peace deal

According to the report, there are signs that the two sides may come to a conclusion. Earlier this month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with senior Trump administration officials at the White House. President Trump later told CNBC that a deal between the company and the DOD is “possible,” calling the firm “very smart”.Michael added that the Pentagon still wants “guardrails” for AI use, but noted that these terms are “negotiable”.

Pentagon signs contracts with seven AI companies

While Anthropic remains in legal and regulatory fight, the Department of War is moving ahead with other partners with the agency announcing deals with seven AI companies to deploy technology across classified networks for “lawful operational use”. These include Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, OpenAI, Nvidia, SpaceX and Reflection.