The "Stop Cap" Edition

The "Stop Cap" Edition

From Rational Security by The Lawfare Institute

March 12, 2026 · 1h 13m

About this episode

The episode discusses national security news, focusing on Anthropic's legal challenges with the Pentagon and Iran's potential terrorist responses to military actions.

This week, Scott sat down with his Lawfare colleagues Kate Klonick, Molly Roberts, and Troy Edwards to talk through the week’s big national security news stories, including: “MisAnthropic.” On Monday, Anthropic filed a civil complaint in the Northern District of California and a petition for hearing at the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit over the Department of Defense’s designation of the frontier artificial intelligence company as a “supply chain risk.” The litigation capped off weeks of building tensions between Anthropic and Pentagon officials over the firm’s two ethical red lines for the Defense Department and its use of its AI model, Claude, specifically around widespread surveillance of Americans and the use of AI and autonomous weapons. What exactly are the Pentagon’s grounds for designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk, and how does Anthropic argue that doing so is inconsistent with the law? And what might the implications be for the AI industry as a whole? “The Mashhadian Candidate.” Fears that Iran would respond to the ongoing Israeli-U.S. military campaign through overseas terrorism have come to a head this week, as reports emerged that U.S. intelligence had…

People in this episode

Host: Scott

Guests: Kate Klonick, Molly Roberts, Troy Edwards

Topics covered

  • national security
  • artificial intelligence
  • legal issues
  • Iran
  • terrorism
  • Pentagon
  • surveillance

Keywords

  • Anthropic
  • Department of Defense
  • AI
  • surveillance
  • Iran
  • terrorism
  • Pentagon
  • legal complaint

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Anthropic, Department of Defense, Pentagon

Places: California, D.C. Circuit, Iran

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