On August 27, 2025, Anthropic announced the creation of the National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council, a body composed of bipartisan former national security and public policy practitioners. The council will advise Anthropic on supporting the United States and closely allied democracies to build and sustain technological advantages during a period of strategic competition.
Role of the council
The council is intended to help Anthropic identify and develop high-impact applications that bolster U.S. and allied capabilities across areas such as cybersecurity, intelligence analysis, and scientific research. Members will also assist in deepening public–private partnerships and in shaping industry-leading standards that aim to promote responsible, high-quality national security uses of AI.
Named inaugural members
Anthropic said it expects to name additional members as its research and public-sector partnerships progress. The inaugural members announced are:
- Roy Blunt, former U.S. Senator from Missouri, former member of the Select Committee on Intelligence and chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee; currently serves on the boards of Tenet Healthcare and the cyber company Nightwing, and is chairman of Leadership Strategies at HB Strategies. He has previously served on the Southwest Airlines board and as chairman of an advisory board at the National Geospatial Agency.
- David S. Cohen, former Deputy Director of the CIA and former Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence; former partner at WilmerHale and currently a Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School.
- Richard Fontaine, a member of Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security; also Executive Director of the Trilateral Commission and formerly a foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain.
- Christopher Fonzone, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice and former General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence during the Biden administration; he has served in multiple White House legal roles and previously worked as a partner at Sidley Austin.
- Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty, CEO of Wolverine Global and former Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration during the first Trump administration; she has held senior roles focused on nuclear security and counterterrorism and recently served on the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States.
- Josh Hodges, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs and Senior Advisor to the Chair at VEON Ltd.; former National Security Advisor to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and former Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council in the first Trump administration; currently a Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
- Jill M. Hruby, former Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration during the Biden administration and former Director of Sandia National Laboratories; her work focuses on nuclear weapons science, nuclear security, non-proliferation, and arms control.
- Mike Kuiken, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford University) and Expert Advisor to the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP); former National Security Advisor to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, with expertise in national security policy, technology, and competitiveness.
- Dave Luber, former Director of Cybersecurity at the National Security Agency and former Executive Director of U.S. Cyber Command; his 38-year civil service career focused on cybersecurity operations, nation-state cyber threats, and public–private security partnerships.
- Patrick M. Shanahan, former Acting Secretary of Defense and former Deputy Secretary of Defense in the first Trump administration; current CEO of Spirit AeroSystems and board member of Leidos and CAE; he spent over three decades at The Boeing Company and has expertise in defense acquisition, large-scale product development and manufacturing, and global supply chain management.
- Jon Tester, former U.S. Senator from Montana and former chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, which oversaw $800 billion in defense and intelligence spending; he is also a fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and a political analyst at MSNBC.
Anthropic’s government-focused programs and recent steps
Anthropic framed the council as part of a broader effort to engage deeply with the public sector to ensure a safe transition through transformative AI and to help the United States and close allied democracies retain leadership in developing and deploying powerful, trusted frontier AI for national security uses.
Recent, government-facing steps Anthropic highlighted include:
- Launching a custom set of Claude Gov models built exclusively for U.S. national security customers.
- A $200 million partnership with the Department of Defense to prototype frontier AI capabilities intended to advance U.S. national security.
- Deploying Claude to 10,000 scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
- Partnering with the National Nuclear Security Administration to develop nuclear safeguards related to AI.
- Making Claude available to all three branches of the U.S. government for $1.
Anthropic has also voluntarily worked with Department of Energy nuclear experts to assess whether its models could reveal sensitive information about nuclear weapons, and collaborated with the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation and the UK AI Security Institute to test its models’ capabilities in biological, cyber, and AI research and development contexts.
Significance
The council’s creation signals Anthropic’s intent to expand and institutionalize guidance for its public-sector and national security engagements. By assembling a group of experienced former officials, the company aims to develop safe, effective, and cutting-edge technologies and policies that could help the United States and its close allies maintain durable technological advantages in an era of strategic competition.
