Anthropic asks full appeals court to revisit Pentagon national security ruling

Anthropic is not done fighting the Pentagon. On October 13, 2026, the AI company behind the Claude models asked the full US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rehear a case it lost in September. The ruling it wants revisited lets the Defense Department keep treating a domestic AI developer as a national security risk. What Anthropic is asking for The filing is a petition for rehearing en banc. That is the legal term for asking every active judge on the court to weigh in, rather than leaving the final word to the panel that heard the case. That panel ruled on September 25. It sided with the Pentagon, which had labeled Anthropic a “supply chain risk” under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act, known as FASCSA. The designation landed around February or March 2026. Its practical effect is sweeping: Pentagon personnel and contractors are barred from using Claude. The government’s stated concern centers on Anthropic’s own contract terms. The company prohibits use of its technology for lethal autonomous warfare and for domestic surveillance. The panel majority found “ample support” for the designation and pointed to the possibility that Anthropic’s model restrictions co...