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Anthropic offers Claude for Government to US agencies as Pentagon fight drags on

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Anthropic offers Claude for Government to US agencies as Pentagon fight drags on

Anthropic is now offering Claude for Government to US federal and state agencies. The platform has been in open beta since July and runs in a FedRAMP High environment, which The Decoder describes as the strictest US cloud security level.

The offer targets civilian agencies because the Pentagon bans Claude. In March, the Pentagon labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk after the company refused to drop its bans on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Trump then ordered all agencies to drop Claude, though the military still used it in the Iran war before removing it.

The dispute has since moved into the courts. In late August, a San Francisco judge struck down one of two designations as unlawful retaliation. In late September, a Washington appeals court upheld the other. CEO Dario Amodei's dinner with Trump on Sunday suggests tensions are easing, according to The Decoder, but that may not last.

On the product side, agencies get the same features as enterprise customers and pay for what they use, with fixed caps. Admins set budgets and model access per department, with audit logs and two-person approval for sensitive actions. Chats stay on agency devices.

Key facts

  • Anthropic is now offering Claude for Government to US federal and state agencies; the platform has been in open beta since July.
  • It runs in a FedRAMP High environment, described as the strictest US cloud security level.
  • The Pentagon bans Claude and labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk in March after the company refused to drop its bans on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.
  • A San Francisco judge struck down one of two designations as unlawful retaliation in late August; a Washington appeals court upheld the other in late September.
  • Agencies get enterprise features and pay for what they use, with fixed caps; admins set per-department budgets and model access, with audit logs and two-person approval for sensitive actions.

Why it matters

Anthropic is courting civilian government customers while its relationship with the Pentagon remains unresolved. The Pentagon labeled it a supply chain risk in March, and Trump ordered all agencies to drop Claude. The new offer, built on a FedRAMP High environment, is aimed at the agencies outside the military. The court record is mixed: one of the two designations was struck down in late August as unlawful retaliation, and the other was upheld in late September. The Decoder reads Amodei's Sunday dinner with Trump as a sign that tensions are easing, but adds that this may not last.

Who it affects

US federal and state agencies are the intended customers. The military is not: the Pentagon bans Claude, although the source says it still used the model in the Iran war before removing it. Anthropic is affected most directly, since the designations and the presidential order put its government business at stake.

How to use it

Claude for Government has been in open beta since July and is now offered to federal and state agencies. Agencies get the same features as enterprise customers and pay for what they use, with fixed caps. Admins set budgets and model access per department, with audit logs and two-person approval for sensitive actions. Chats stay on agency devices. No pricing figures, cap amounts or budget sizes are given.

How solid is it

The account comes from a single outlet, The Decoder, and is short. It states the platform details, the FedRAMP High environment and the court outcomes plainly. No statement or quote from Anthropic, the Pentagon or the White House is given. The reading of the Amodei-Trump dinner is the outlet's own assessment, and it is hedged.

Risks and caveats

The legal and political situation is unsettled. One designation was upheld on appeal in late September, and the source says any easing of tensions may not last. The source does not say which designation was struck down and which was upheld, beyond "one" and "the other". It also does not say what was discussed at the dinner, which Claude models are offered, or when general (non-beta) availability begins.