Anthropic vs Pentagon: New court filings reveal DoD said sides were nearly aligned — a week after Trump declared the relationship over

Anthropic has submitted two sworn declarations to a federal court in California, pushing back on the Pentagon's assertion that the AI company poses an "unacceptable risk to national security." The declarations were filed ahead of a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, March 24, before Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco.

The dispute traces back to late February, when President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly declared they were cutting ties with Anthropic after the company refused to allow unrestricted military use of its AI technology.

The two declarants are Sarah Heck, Anthropic's Head of Policy, and Thiyagu Ramasamy, its Head of Public Sector. Heck is a former National Security Council official from the Obama administration who was personally present at the February 24 meeting where CEO Dario Amodei sat down with Secretary Hegseth and Pentagon Under Secretary Emil Michael.

In her declaration, Heck refutes what she describes as a central falsehood in the government's filings: that Anthropic demanded an approval role over military operations. "At no time during Anthropic's negotiations with the Department did I or any other Anthropic employee state that the company wanted that kind of role," she wrote.

She also states that the Pentagon's concern about Anthropic potentially disabling or altering its technology mid-operation was never raised during negotiations, appearing instead for the first time in the government's court filings.

The case sets a critical precedent for the relationship between AI companies and the U.S. military, potentially shaping the framework for all future AI deployment in the defense sector. The March 24 hearing will likely determine the immediate path forward in what has become one of the most consequential AI legal battles of 2026.