AFRL Orders Contractors to Strip Anthropic Software by Sept. 1, Internal Memo Reveals

WASHINGTON — According to memos acquired by Breaking Defense, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is directing its contractors to eliminate all Anthropic products from their systems by September 1, roughly a month before a department-wide deadline set by the Defense Department.

Dated July 9 and distributed to industry, the AFRL memorandum formally notifies contractors of a department-wide mandate to remove all Anthropic-provided products and services. Contractors are required to identify any use of Anthropic within their systems and report back by August 1, followed by complete removal by September 1.

This timeline precedes the broader Defense Department deadline of September 29. The memo explains that the earlier target is needed to provide administrative processing time, guarantee compliance with the Defense Department deadline, and ensure a smooth transition with necessary contract modifications.

Neither the Pentagon-wide September 29 deadline nor the AFRL-specific date had been previously disclosed.

On February 27, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly announced the prohibition via X.com, labeling Anthropic a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security” and stating that no contractor, supplier, or partner conducting business with the U.S. military could engage in commercial activity with the company. The sweeping and legally contentious order was later narrowed to forbid only the use of Anthropic on defense contracts, excluding the firm’s work for civilian clients.

Initially, Hegseth imposed a six-month deadline to discontinue Anthropic, which would have fallen on August 27. Subsequent adjustments have progressively extended that deadline.

A March 6 memo from Defense Department CIO Kirsten Davies—reported earlier by CBS—established a 180-day deadline expiring September 2. Breaking Defense has since obtained a subsequent Davies memo dated April 2, 2026, which states that all Anthropic software “must be removed within 180 days from the date of this memorandum,” shifting the cutoff to September 29. An official compliance reporting website corroborates this date.

The two memoranda, issued about a month apart, are nearly verbatim identical except for one notable omission: the April 2 version drops the characterization of Anthropic as “an unacceptable supply chain risk.”

The Pentagon and AFRL did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

As the directive cascaded through the chain of command, memo dates indicate each tier required lead time to formulate implementation plans. The Air Force, for instance, issued its own purge order on May 21—roughly six weeks after the DoD CIO’s initial memo. No rationale was provided for the delay in drafting the brief, sub-one-page Air Force memorandum, which cites “the recent directive from the DoD CIO.”

Some AFRL contractors appear to have received the September 1 deadline prior to the July 9 memo, which notes: “If you have already responded to an AFRL contracting representative through a prior notification, you may disregard this specific notice.”

Industry self-reporting is being collected via a publicly accessible Microsoft-hosted form, though compliance may pose challenges for contractors.

Given that many software firms subcontract or partner with one another, end users may struggle to discern when an application depends on “products or services provided by Anthropic, PBC, and its subordinate, subsidiaries, or affiliated offices or entities,” as broadly defined in the AFRL memo. Simply inventorying and accurately reporting such usage is cumbersome—let alone excising all prohibited code without disrupting business operations that have grown reliant on it.

Meanwhile, Anthropic’s legal challenges against the ban continue, with the Wall Street Journal reporting the disclosure of private communications between company executives and Pentagon officials. Should the litigation fare poorly for the government, a court could mandate that defense agencies and contractors reverse many of the actions now being urgently executed.

Mark Pomerleau and Theresa Hitchens contributed to this report.

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