The Trump administration is quietly workshopping a draft executive action that would clear a path for federal agencies to use Anthropic's models — including its powerful new Mythos system — over the Pentagon's objections, according to an Axios scoop published April 29, 2026.
The move would represent a striking reversal from earlier this year, when the Department of Defense formally labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk and the broader administration signaled it would cease using the company's technology across government.
What's in the draft
Axios reports that the White House is convening companies across multiple sectors this week to inform the potential executive action and best practices for deploying Mythos. Those meetings reportedly include "table reads" of possible guidance that could walk back the Office of Management and Budget's directive on not using Anthropic inside the federal government.
A draft executive action currently in the works could, among other steps related to the government's use of AI, give the administration a way to dial down the Anthropic fight. One source described the White House effort to Axios as a way to "save face and bring em back in."
The practical effect would be a workaround: agencies would be allowed to onboard Anthropic models even though the Pentagon's supply chain risk designation remains in place, and even though the underlying contractual dispute has not been resolved in court.
How we got here
The Pentagon's designation, issued in March, followed Anthropic's refusal to sign an agreement permitting Pentagon use of Claude for "all lawful purposes." Anthropic insisted on carve-outs banning the model's use for mass domestic surveillance and for the development of fully autonomous weapons. The Department of Defense and Anthropic have since been battling the question in federal court.
The political tone began shifting earlier in April. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for what both sides characterized as a productive introductory conversation. Around the same time, OMB Federal Chief Information Officer Gregory Barbaccia told Cabinet officials that the office was setting up protections to allow agencies to begin using a modified version of Mythos.
Meanwhile, demand inside government is real. Axios has previously reported that the National Security Agency is already using Mythos, and the new piece notes that agencies across the federal government are clamoring for access at exactly the moment the Pentagon is fighting Anthropic in court.
Why it matters
If the executive action is finalized, it would effectively split federal AI procurement: civilian agencies — and potentially intelligence customers — would gain sanctioned access to Anthropic's frontier models while the DoD's supply chain ban continues to wind through litigation. It would also hand Anthropic a substantial commercial and reputational win after weeks of being cast as a national security liability, and it would put the administration's earlier risk framing under a sharper microscope.
The White House has not publicly committed to a timeline, and any final guidance could shift before signature.
