Anthropic faces congressional scrutiny after second source code leak raises national security fears

Exclusive: Gottheimer presses Anthropic on source code leaks

Driving the news: Gottheimer, a leading House Democrat on AI and cybersecurity issues, sent the letter after source material powering Claude Code leaked this week for the second time in over a year. * "Claude is a critical part of our national security operations. If it is replicated, we sacrifice the competitive edge we have worked so diligently to maintain in all facets of our national security," he wrote. Zoom in: Gottheimer opened the letter by saying he supports Anthropic in its dealings with the Pentagon. * "I was deeply concerned with the Trump Administration's decision to block Claude from all government contracts, and how that decision could significantly set us back in our AI race against China." Gottheimer pressed Amodei on why the company has rolled back certain internal safety protocols. * He pointed to a Chinese Communist Party-backed group hacking Claude last year, writing that he's concerned upcoming Claude model Mythos will be used to conduct more cyberattacks. * "Anthropic needs to do everything it can to prevent CCP-backed companies like DeepSeek from conducting distillation campaigns." Between the lines: Gottheimer is threading a needle -- clearly disagreeing with the Trump administration's blacklisting of Anthropic while demanding the company improve its security so advanced AI can still be used in national security operations. The other side: "A Claude Code release included some internal source code. No sensitive customer data or credentials were involved or exposed," an Anthropic spokesperson told Axios following the leak Tuesday. * "This was a release packaging issue caused by human error, not a security breach. We're rolling out measures to prevent this from happening again." What we're watching: Gottheimer asked Anthropic to answer a number of questions about Claude's capabilities, risks of malicious use and susceptibility to further attacks from outside parties.

House Democrat pushes Anthropic on safety protocols, source code leak

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) pressed Anthropic on Thursday about recent changes to its internal safety protocols following reports that part of the source code for the AI firm's Claude Code tool was accidentally leaked. The company narrowed its AI safety policy pledge in late February, removing a previous commitment to halt development of its AI models if they outpace its safety procedures. Going forward, Anthropic said it would grade itself on "nonbinding but publicly-declared" goals. "Given that we know Claude has been a repeated target of malign Chinese Communist Party (CCP) actors, combined with Claude Code's source code recently being leaked to the public, I don't understand why Anthropic would risk walking back any of its security measures," Gottheimer wrote in a letter to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. "The safety and security of our AI systems are critical to our national security, and Anthropic's protocols should properly protect against this threat," he added. Several outlets reported Wednesday that Anthropic accidentally leaked a portion of Claude Code's internal source code. A spokesperson told CNBC that no "sensitive customer data or credentials were involved or exposed" and that the issue was "caused by human error, not a security breach." "We're rolling out measures to prevent this from happening again," the company spokesperson said in a statement. The Hill has reached out to Anthropic for comment. Gottheimer also raised concerns Thursday about the ability of CCP-linked actors to use Anthropic's AI tools to conduct cyberattacks, as well as efforts to copy and reproduce its AI products. The company revealed in November that Chinese hackers had used its coding tool to conduct a large-scale cyberattack with limited human involvement. The congressman pressed the firm for answers about how it plans to prevent similar malicious uses of its tools and whether it expects such risks to increase with new models. In February, Anthropic also said it identified three "industrial-scale campaigns" by China-based AI labs to "illicitly extract Claude's capabilities to improve their own models" in a process referred to as distillation. Gottheimer questioned whether these AI labs can distill information about "how AI is used in U.S. national security" and how the company is preventing access to such information. "We cannot allow the CCP to reverse engineer and exploit American AI, built for our national defense," he added. "Claude is a critical part of our national security operations. If it is replicated, we sacrifice the competitive edge we have worked so diligently to maintain in all facets of our national security. Anthropic needs to do everything it can to prevent CCP-backed companies like DeepSeek from conducting distillation campaigns."

Why Anthropic's Massive Code Leak Is Now a National Security Concern in D.C.

Representative Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat and leading House voice on AI and cybersecurity, wrote to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Thursday warning of potential risks tied to the leak, according to a letter obtained by Axios. His message reflects mounting pressure from lawmakers as AI systems become increasingly embedded in U.S. defense and intelligence operations. Leaks Raise Lawmaker Concerns The letter follows what Gottheimer described as the second time in just over a year that source material powering Claude has leaked publicly. "Claude is a critical part of our national security operations. If it is replicated, we sacrifice the competitive edge we have worked so diligently to maintain in all facets of our national security," he wrote, according to Axios. At the same time, Gottheimer made clear he is at odds with the Trump administration's approach to Anthropic. He voiced support for the company amid its ongoing tensions with the Pentagon, writing, "I was deeply concerned with the Trump Administration's decision to block Claude from all government contracts, and how that decision could significantly set us back in our AI race against China."