The White House quietly authorized a $9 billion secret request and reprogrammed $800 million so that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) can acquire Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips. These next-generation processors are required to run frontier artificial intelligence models on classified, isolated networks.
Why the purchases were urgent
According to the reporting, intelligence agencies ran into a practical barrier: the latest large AI models — including the newest ChatGPT release and Anthropic’s Mythos — do not fit on the machines currently used within classified environments. As a result, government agencies could not run the most advanced models for sensitive workflows on their own hardware.
Pentagon concerns and the White House override
The White House decision overrode objections from the Department of Defense (the Pentagon), which had identified Anthropic as a supply-chain risk. Despite that assessment, the administration approved the procurement and waived an “any lawful use” clause that other vendors had signed.
Commercial users moved ahead
The report states that Anthropic’s Mythos model and related deployments reached commercial customers — including JPMorgan and several British banks — months before the CIA (Langley) could host them internally. That sequence places intelligence agencies behind commercial actors in access to these capabilities.
Money is available, but access lags
Although the $9 billion fund is in place, the reporting indicates the NSA still waits behind a hedge fund’s risk desk for access, while Amazon Web Services (AWS) works on building the necessary infrastructure. The vendor the Pentagon had flagged as a supply-chain risk is reportedly participating in writing the procurement standard.
Why this matters
The development matters because it reverses a long-standing dynamic in which intelligence agencies gained early access to advanced technology. It also raises questions about risk assessment and procurement policy: a provider previously labeled risky is now involved in setting rules for government purchases. More broadly, the episode shows that access to cutting-edge AI hardware has become a strategic resource.
Summary
The White House’s secret $9 billion appropriation and $800 million reprogramming enabled the CIA and NSA to pursue Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips to run frontier AI on classified networks. The decision overrode Pentagon warnings about Anthropic, and commercial customers obtained the new models before some U.S. intelligence systems could host them.
