Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has voiced strong objections to the Department of Defense’s classification of AI startup Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” alleging the move appears to be an act of retaliation. In a formal letter addressed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Warren highlighted that the department possessed alternatives, such as terminating its contract with Anthropic or continuing to utilize its technology within unclassified systems.
“I am particularly concerned that the DoD is trying to strong-arm American companies into providing the Department with the tools to spy on American citizens and deploy fully autonomous weapons without adequate safeguards,” Warren stated in her correspondence.
These concerns come as U.S. senators intensify scrutiny of the Defense Department’s contracts with technology firms, particularly amid the ongoing conflict in Iran, which has now entered its fourth week. The tension between the DOD and Anthropic escalated in the days preceding the conflict, with the department seeking unrestricted access to Anthropic’s AI models for all “lawful purposes.” Conversely, Anthropic sought assurances that its models would not be deployed for fully autonomous weapons or domestic “mass surveillance.”
On February 27th, Hegseth announced his directive to apply the “supply chain risk” designation to Anthropic. The official notification was issued a week later, while the department continued to employ Anthropic’s Claude model in Iran. Following this designation and a subsequent blacklisting of the company, Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, deeming the action a threat to U.S. national security. A preliminary hearing for this lawsuit is slated for Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California.
The timing of these events is noteworthy. Hours after Anthropic’s blacklisting, OpenAI announced a new agreement with the DOD. The company expressed confidence that the DOD would not misuse its AI systems for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, citing OpenAI’s “safety stack,” existing legal frameworks, and undisclosed contractual language as protective measures.
However, neither OpenAI CEO Sam Altman nor the Defense Department has successfully allayed the concerns of lawmakers, the public, and even some employees within these organizations. Senator Warren is also seeking detailed information from Sam Altman regarding the terms of OpenAI’s agreement with the DOD.
“I am concerned that the terms of this agreement may permit the Trump Administration to use OpenAI’s technology to conduct mass surveillance of Americans and build lethal autonomous weapons that could harm civilians with little to no human oversight,” Warren’s letter states.
During a recent meeting with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., Senator Mark Kelly raised “serious questions” concerning OpenAI’s approach to modern warfare and its DOD contract. Warren echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the critical need for transparency.
“Ultimately, it is impossible to assess any safeguards and prohibitions that may exist in OpenAI’s agreement with DoD without seeing the full contract, which neither DoD nor OpenAI have made available,” Warren articulated. She further noted that the limited information publicly available already raises significant concerns about the DOD’s utilization of artificial intelligence.
Despite these calls for greater transparency and accountability, Democrats in the Senate face limitations in forcing action, given the current Republican control of both the White House and both houses of Congress. The intricate interplay between national security imperatives, technological advancement, and robust oversight remains a critical challenge for policymakers and the public alike.
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