NSA taps Anthropic’s Mythos despite Pentagon risk warnings: report

The National Security Agency is utilizing Anthropic’s most sophisticated AI model, Mythos Preview, despite the Department of Defense labeling the startup a “supply chain risk.”

Two sources told Axios that the NSA has secured access to the high-powered model, which Anthropic has kept under tight wraps due to its potent offensive cyber capabilities. 

While the Pentagon officially moved to sever ties with the company in February—even directing its vendors to do the same—internal demand for the technology appears to be overriding that directive. 

This friction has led to a legal standoff where military officials are arguing in court that Anthropic’s tools threaten national security, while simultaneously expanding their use of those same tools across various departments.

The standoff over “all lawful purposes”

Renegotiations between the two parties soured earlier this year when the Pentagon demanded the company make its Claude model available for “all lawful purposes.” 

Anthropic leadership pushed back, insisting on specific prohibitions against mass domestic surveillance and the development of autonomous weaponry. As a result of this, some Defense officials claimed the company cannot be trusted in critical military scenarios, a characterization Anthropic has denied.

The government’s interest in the model stems largely from its specialized utility. Most of the 40 organizations granted access to Mythos Preview use the tool to scan their own digital environments for exploitable vulnerabilities. 

While Anthropic has publicly named only 12 of these partners, including the U.K.’s AI Security Institute, the NSA is reportedly among the undisclosed group of agencies.

Recent efforts to resolve the impasse have moved beyond the Pentagon’s halls. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met on Friday with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss how Mythos could be integrated across other government sectors. 

Sources described the meeting as productive, indicating that the administration may look for ways to bypass the Pentagon feud to ensure other departments can utilize the cutting-edge technology.