The Pentagon has given Anthropic until 5:01pm Friday to agree to unrestricted military use of Claude — or face the Defense Production Act and supply chain blacklisting. On the same day the ultimatum was issued, Anthropic published a comprehensive rewrite of its Responsible Scaling Policy, removing its foundational commitment to pause model training if safety can't keep pace with capability. Two stories. Same company. Same twenty-four hours.
**In this episode:**
- Hegseth's Tuesday meeting with Amodei — the demand, the threats, the Cold War-era law aimed at software for the first time
- The competitive encirclement: xAI on classified networks, OpenAI and Google close behind
- RSP v3.0: what was removed, what replaced it, and why Anthropic says the old framework was untenable
- METR's Chris Painter on \"triage mode\" and the water boiling before the thermometer's in
- Reading Tuesday's two stories together — and what's left when institutional commitments become personal ones
**Links:**
- Axios — Hegseth gives Anthropic until Friday: https://www.axios.com/2026/02/24/anthropic-pentagon-claude-hegseth-dario
- NBC News — Anthropic offered missile defence access: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/anthropic-pentagon-us-military-can-use-ai-missile-defense-hegseth-rcna260534
- TIME — Anthropic Drops Flagship Safety Pledge: https://time.com/7380854/exclusive-anthropic-drops-flagship-safety-pledge/
- Lawfare — What the DPA Can and Can't Do: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what-the-defense-production-act-can-and-can't-do-to-anthropic
- Anthropic — RSP v3.0 announcement: https://www.anthropic.com/news/responsible-scaling-policy-v3
- Chris Painter on X — capability evaluation: https://x.com/ChrisPainterYup/status/2019534216405606623
**Referenced in this episode:**
- EP019: Claude Goes to War — the opening chapter of the Pentagon standoff
🌐 Website: aboutclaude.xyz
🦉 X: @_about_claude
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