A federal judge just put the Pentagon’s China-company blacklist under a microscope. It did not enjoy the view. This is Anthropic Pentagon Watch—today: how much proof does the Pentagon need before a designation can kneecap a vendor? And why that answer may reach well beyond one pharma company. Let’s start with WuXi AppTec. Tap follow so the next episode finds you. From Nicole DeFeudis at Endpoints News:
Judge James Boasberg wrote in a Friday opinion that the government’s current evidence falls short of supporting WuXi’s inclusion on the 1260H list under the US National Defense Authorization Act. WuXi sued over that designation in June, calling for“immediate removal” from the list.
Judge James Boasberg says the Pentagon’s evidence “falls short” for WuXi’s 1260H designation. It’s a preliminary injunction, not a final clearing—but courts are plainly willing to inspect the paperwork behind these labels. WuXi sued in June and got enforcement blocked by August. Meanwhile, companies hit by a designation can watch customers flee while the government calls the damage theoretical. Boasberg called the label a “scarlet letter,” and WuXi put numbers behind it: more than 1,000 U.S. customers, roughly 70% of revenue from the U.S., six facilities here. That’s irreparable procurement harm you can actually put numbers to. That also puts pressure on the Anthropic rationale. If Claude’s guardrails were treated as a FASCSA problem, show the evidence—not a spooky adjective and a procurement memo with a flag on it. Apparently judges enjoy receipts. If you’re following Anthropic Pentagon Watch, check out The Data Center Daily—a daily briefing on AI compute, from hyperscaler spending and the power grid to semiconductor supply and energy markets. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
Links to every story are in the show notes, so you can follow up on whatever caught your attention. Thanks for listening, and we’ll be back tomorrow. That’s Anthropic Pentagon Watch for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.