All of the coverage of this is about the negotiation points of Anthropic vs Pentagon.
Anthropic doesn’t want their software used for certain purposes, so they maintain approval/denial of projects and actions. I suspect the Pentagon doesn’t want limitations AND they dislike paying for software/service which can be withheld from them if they are found to be skirting the contractual terms.
And THAT is why the Pentagon is using maximum leverage (threatening Anthropic as a supply chain risk label).
> Anthropic doesn’t want their software used for certain purposes
How do you know the government asked for a specific use case?
As far as I know, the meeting was private and we don't know what they talked about. I haven't found a single official press release or verified statement that supports this.
The verified statements I found are just about the government wanting unrestricted access. That alone is not enough to imply "no guardrails". As I mentioned before, it could be just for auditing (especially in the light of current events involving distilling of the models).
I think it's an extraordinary coincidence that this happened soon after the distillation thing. And I don't know what it means if it's not a coincidence.