On Aug. 27, Anthropic, the company behind Claude, unveiled what it calls its “National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council” — an 11-member council that includes a former U.S. senator and intelligence chief, to guide how its models are deployed in U.S. defense and government applications.
Partnering with the Pentagon
GPUs, geopolitics, and government
Anthropic’s council can also be seen as a sign that access to compute is becoming a national security priority. The Center for a New American Security has already acknowledged that securing and extending the government’s access to compute will play a “decisive role in whether the United States leads the world in AI or cedes its leadership to competitors.”
Nvidia Blackwell GPUs are sold out through most of 2025, export controls are unpredictable, and U.S. agencies are scrambling to secure reliable training capacity. By recruiting insiders from the Department of Energy and the intelligence community, Anthropic is aiming to secure both the hardware and policy headroom it needs to stay competitive.
This strategy is risky: Tying the Claude brand to the Pentagon may alienate some users and could saddle Anthropic with political baggage. But there are also clear rewards, including steady contracts, priority access to chips, and a direct role in shaping public sector AI standards. Someone, somewhere, has made some careful calculations, and Anthropic’s leadership is clearly hoping they'll pay off.
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