U.S. Government Directs Anthropic to Block Foreign National AI Access
A federal directive targeting a private AI company's model access marks a notable exercise of executive authority over commercial artificial intelligence deployment, raising questions about the...
The U.S. government issued a directive to artificial intelligence company Anthropic on Friday, June 13, 2026, instructing the company to prevent any foreign national from accessing its latest and most powerful AI models, according to a statement from Anthropic reported by NBC News. Anthropic confirmed the directive and stated it had suspended access to the affected models in response.
The nature of the legal authority used to issue the directive — whether an executive order, a national security finding, an export control mechanism under the Export Administration Regulations administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), or another statutory instrument — has not been publicly disclosed as of publication time. The specific models affected and the precise definition of "foreign national" as applied in the directive have also not been detailed in publicly available records.
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Anthropics's frontier AI models have been the subject of ongoing federal policy discussions. The company entered into a voluntary commitment with the Biden administration in July 2023, alongside six other AI firms, to implement safety measures for AI development, as documented by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The Trump administration subsequently issued Executive Order 14179 in January 2025, rescinding prior Biden-era AI policy and directing federal agencies to revise AI governance frameworks, according to the Federal Register (Vol. 90, No. 19).
Export control of advanced technology, including AI software, falls under the jurisdiction of BIS within the Department of Commerce. The Export Administration Regulations (15 C.F.R. Parts 730–774) govern whether and how controlled technologies may be shared with foreign nationals, including through "deemed export" provisions applicable to domestic interactions. Whether Friday's directive was issued under this existing framework or a separate authority is not confirmed in any publicly available court filing, agency notice, or Federal Register publication reviewed as of this writing.
What remains unknown: the specific statutory or executive authority cited in the directive, which agency issued it, whether Anthropic has been subpoenaed or received a formal legal order, and whether the suspension applies to paying customers, API users, or both. A Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Commerce and the National Security Council, or a congressional inquiry producing a formal response for the record, would be the documents most likely to answer these questions.