national security7 articles
Federal Judge Throws Out Pentagon's Retaliation Campaign Against Anthropic
A federal judge has ruled that the Pentagon acted illegally by designating Anthropic a supply chain risk in retaliation for the AI company's criticism of the government's stance on military AI use. Judge Rita Lin found that the actions were motivated by a desire to punish Anthropic for its "arrogance" in opposing unrestricted military use of its technology, rather than any genuine national security concern. The government is expected to appeal the ruling, while a separate related case remains pending in a federal appeals court.
The Guy Hired to Catch Spies Was Busy Being One
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, a 29-year-old IT specialist who worked in the DIA's Insider Threat Division, pleaded guilty after being caught in an FBI sting operation passing classified information to what he believed were foreign spies. Ironically, his role at the DIA involved identifying potential leakers and supporting internal investigations, knowledge he intended to exploit to avoid detection. He was arrested in May 2025 after making two dead-drops of top-secret documents in an Arlington, Virginia park, having transcribed the classified information by hand and hidden the notes in his socks.
Pentagon Blacklisted Anthropic Over Capabilities Claude Doesn't Actually Have, Judge Rules
A US federal judge has ruled that the Pentagon illegally blacklisted Anthropic as a national security threat, finding that key claims about Claude's capabilities were "entirely unfounded" — including the assertion that Anthropic could remotely alter or disable models already deployed in Pentagon systems, which it cannot. Judge Rita Lin determined that the designation was retaliatory, assembled after the fact to punish Anthropic for publicly refusing to remove AI safeguards and for criticising the administration, rather than based on genuine security concerns. The ruling emphasised that the government cannot use national security designations as a tool to silence or financially damage its critics, though it remains free to stop purchasing Anthropic's technology through lawful means.
US Slams the Door on Foreign Robots Over Security and Supply Chain Fears
The US government has effectively banned the import of advanced foreign-made robots, citing national security and supply chain risks, including vulnerabilities to data theft, remote disruption, and dependency on potentially hostile foreign entities. The FCC has added such devices to its Covered List of prohibited imports, with exceptions for devices approved by the Department of War and foreign-owned companies that manufacture their robots within the United States. Existing approved devices can continue to be imported and used, but the policy signals a clear shift toward requiring robots sold in America to be made in America.
SpaceX's Quiet Chinese Investors: Military-Linked Backers, Qatari Royals, and a Middleman Who Promised CFO Access
A ProPublica investigation has revealed that a Chinese businessman with ties to military contractors, along with other overseas investors from China, Hong Kong, and Russia, secretly acquired small stakes in SpaceX through a US middleman firm called Tomales Bay Capital between 2018 and 2021. This raises national security concerns given SpaceX's extensive work on sensitive US government contracts, such as building spy satellites for the Pentagon. The revelations are particularly notable as SpaceX recently barred Chinese and Hong Kong investors from its record-breaking IPO, citing "regulatory and compliance risks."
US Government Forces Anthropic to Pull Its Two Most Powerful Models Worldwide Over Foreign National Access Concerns
The US government issued an export control directive ordering Anthropic to block access to its two most advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for all foreign nationals, citing national security concerns. Because compliance would be impossible without disabling the models entirely, Anthropic suspended global access to both, just days after rolling out Fable 5 for free to millions of users. Anthropic disputes the justification, stating the government's evidence amounts to a narrow, already-known jailbreak, and argues that applying this standard industry-wide would effectively halt all new frontier model deployments.
Flagged as a Pentagon Supply Chain Risk, Anthropic Is Probably Getting the NSA Contract Anyway
Despite being flagged as a supply chain risk by the Pentagon due to its refusal to allow unrestricted lawful use of its technology, Anthropic will likely continue supplying its Claude-based "Mythos" model to the NSA, with the arrangement personally approved by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Mythos is reportedly the only short-term solution for the NSA's classified networks because it can run on older chips, unlike models from competitors that require Nvidia's latest hardware. A contract being finalized includes a clause preventing the model from processing Americans' data, and the White House intends to use it as a template for future AI agreements.