The White House wants Anthropic to win the cybersecurity war
WASHINGTON D.C. – In the corridors of American power, one of the most silent yet decisive battles for the future of global technology is unfolding.
The Trump administration, in a high-wire act of political pragmatism, is attempting to rebuild relations with Anthropic, the AI startup that until a few weeks ago was considered a national security outcast.
At the center of this dramatic thaw is Mythos, an AI system so powerful that it has pushed the government to develop secret strategies to bypass its own restrictions.
The Pentagon Wall and the Historical Precedent
It all began with an act of ethical defiance: Anthropic refused to allow the U.S. military to use its models for domestic surveillance and the development of autonomous weapons systems.
The Pentagon’s reaction was unprecedented.
In March, the Department of Defense (DoD) officially designated Anthropic as a “supply chain risk.”
This marks the first time a U.S.-based company has received such a designation—typically reserved for firms linked to adversarial nations.
The decision had an immediate impact, preventing tens of thousands of defense contractors from integrating Anthropic’s technology into their operations, creating what experts describe as a “short-term bruise” to the company’s growth.
Mythos: The Keystone of Cybersecurity
Why, then, is the White House seeking a way out?
The answer lies in the extraordinary capabilities of Mythos, Anthropic’s most advanced model. According to experts, Mythos has a potentially unprecedented ability to identify critical vulnerabilities in digital networks and, even more alarmingly, to autonomously devise ways to exploit them.
These features have made the startup an unavoidable interlocutor for figures such as the National Cyber Director, Sean Cairncross, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Discussions have focused on protecting critical infrastructure—banks, hospitals, and emergency services—from cyberattacks “supercharged” by artificial intelligence.
The realization that lacking access to Mythos could leave the United States exposed to similar threats has triggered the presidential policy shift.
The Presidential “Bypass” Strategy
While the Pentagon continues to “vigorously” defend its position in court against Anthropic’s lawsuit, the White House is reportedly preparing a bureaucratic power move.
According to sources, the administration is drafting an executive order that would provide federal agencies with a legal basis to circumvent the Pentagon’s risk designation.
This maneuver would allow the government to adopt Mythos while formally maintaining military restrictions: a kind of “dual-track” approach designed to satisfy security requirements without sacrificing innovation.
Donald Trump himself confirmed this softening stance, telling CNBC that Anthropic is “behaving well” and emphasizing that, in the global technological race, America needs the “smartest people.”
The $1 Trillion IPO and the Geopolitics of Consent
The rapprochement is not only a matter of defense but also of financial markets. Anthropic is preparing to go public with a valuation that could reach $1 trillion. To secure investor confidence, it is essential that the company not appear to be an enemy of the state.
CEO Dario Amodei has played an active role in this process, visiting the White House in mid-April and participating in discussions that led to the June 2 executive order. In that directive, Trump called on major AI developers to submit their most advanced models for cybersecurity testing, effectively transforming Anthropic from a “risk” into a “control partner.”
A Fragile Truce
Despite signs of détente such as Amodei’s invitation (later canceled for formal reasons) to the signing of the first executive order in May tensions have not fully disappeared.
Anthropic was notably excluded from a major cyberattack simulation conducted by the military on April 27, which included direct competitors such as Google and OpenAI.
The race over the future of Mythos therefore remains open.
On one side, the government needs this technology to protect national systems; on the other, Anthropic is fighting to preserve its ethical independence without being absorbed by defense dynamics.
The success of its IPO will also depend on how solid the bridge is that the White House is trying to build over the Pentagon’s resistance.