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NSA Using Anthropic's Mythos Despite Blacklist (axios.com) 72

Posted by BeauHD from the would-you-look-at-that dept.
Axios reports that the NSA is using Anthropic's restricted Mythos Preview model despite the Pentagon insisting the company poses a "supply chain risk." Axios reports: The government's cybersecurity needs appear to be outweighing the Pentagon's feud with Anthropic. The department moved in February to cut off Anthropic and force its vendors to follow suit. That case is ongoing. The military is now broadening its use of Anthropic's tools while simultaneously arguing in court that using those tools threatens U.S. national security.

Two sources said the NSA was using Mythos, while one said the model was also being used more widely within the department. It's unclear how the NSA is currently using Mythos, but other organizations with access to the model are using it predominantly to scan their own environments for exploitable security vulnerabilities.

Anthropic restricted access to Mythos to around 40 organizations, contending that its offensive cyber capabilities were too dangerous to allow for a wider release. Anthropic only announced 12 of those organizations. One source said the NSA was among the unnamed agencies with access. The NSA's counterparts in the U.K. have said they have access to the model through the country's AI Security Institute. Anthropic's CEO met with top U.S. officials on Friday to discuss "opportunities for collaboration," according to a White House spokesperson, "as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology."

NSA Using Anthropic's Mythos Despite Blacklist More | Reply

NSA Using Anthropic's Mythos Despite Blacklist

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  • NSA (Score:4, Informative)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @12:08PM (#66103204)
    They're not accountable to anyone in the US government. I'm not even sure if congress or the president can shut them down. They're very dangerous.

    • Re: NSA (Score:4, Informative)

      by FudRucker ( 866063 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @12:13PM (#66103214)
      The government is the top of the food chain they are not accountable to ANYBODY, they can do what they want to anyone at any time, the laws and government regulations they profess is just lip service to keep the sheep from panicking.

      The USA started out as a federal republic but has since degenerated into a kleprocratic neo-feudalist banana-republic run by a criminal mafia oligarchy

      • Re: NSA (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @12:34PM (#66103278)

        For me, in 2026, anybody who talks in such cynical, doomer language need to answer one question before we even think about taing them seriously: who have you been voting for?

        The past decade of learning about the structure and function of the US government has made me far less cynical about the actual government and far more cynical about the voters who decide who should run it.

        • I quit voting after 9/11/2001

          https://rumble.com/v3jj4nw-doc... [rumble.com]

          this nation is too screwed up for elections to fix it

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward
            If you don't vote, then you are not entitled to complain when you don't agree with the outcome.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward

            Ahh, the perfectionist approach. Your vote didn't fix everything, therefore there's no reason to try to make any progress.

            It's right up there with "I tried exercising once, but I didn't lose weight that day. Therefore ..."

            Nihilism like this is common, and often encouraged by propagandists.

            It's also a mistake.

          • As a retort to me being cynical about voters you link a Rumble video called "All Wars are Banker Wars" and this is supposed to make me *less* cynical about voters? (((I think we all know what you mean)))

            This type of trash making people not vote (or really, you probably voted for Trump) is why I am cynical about voters. If anything this resolves me to support the government getting more onerous about this type of media fucking with all our lives.

            • Funny how your vote doesn't really decide anything, especially who the President is... our vote is just the popular vote. https://legalclarity.org/what-... [legalclarity.org]
              You can thank the Electoral College for whose butt sits in The Chair. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

              • Hey you silly goose, one inidividual vote rarely decides anything. Please learn how systems work and join the rest of us in literate adulthood.

                • https://www.thoughtco.com/pres... [thoughtco.com]

                  In a Presidential election year, your vote decides Senators and Congress and all that, but your vote for President and Vice President doesn't, so your vote for Harris or whoever doesn't really matter, because both those Chairs are up to the Electoral College.

                  • Oh God, the autism, the pedantry, it's too much today.

                    Good luck in the world buddy, not sure how you made it this far.

                    • Actually, autism isn't an insult (and, making fun of someone with it, just insults yourself), and paying attention to details does in fact matter.
                      Only people who read articles from actual website (not just Fark or the extremely biased news sites).

                      If you doubt what I say, look it up your and _read_ the article, not the AI garbage summary. Go ahead and share links that lead to your conclusion.

        • Re: NSA (Score:4, Insightful)

          by dfghjk ( 711126 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @01:02PM (#66103336)

          "...far more cynical about the voters who decide who should run it."

          That is misguided. Voters pull the lever for the wrong people, but there's an enormously corrupt effort to control how that turns out.

          And the originator of this thread was an extremely vocal Trump supporter. It's not so popular to claim credit for that these days.

          • If we want to talk about how fucked our media environment is I am right there with you and that to me is a much more fruitful area to focus on than the boring old "voting doesn't matter, uniparty" bullshit.

            The parties couldn't be more different right now. Does that make Democrats perfect or even good? Not really but they are in fact quite different than Republicans and stand for quite different things.

        • Does it matter who you voted for? The WIKILeaks DNC leak clearly showed that they didn't care who you voted for in the primaries Hillary was getting the nod in some powerplay. Then you had no choice to vote for anyone but Kamala in the last election. Voting is an act.

          • Yes, it matter quite a lot.

            Hold on a second, if it was fixed from the start then why was there months of consternation and intrique when Bernie was running around winning early states and grabbing momentum? All part of the show? Every person is in on it?

            I remember in 2020 when Biden was considered a longshot still until the SC primary. All part of the show?

            This is why conspiracy theorists simply cannot be taken seriously, it's "all roads lead to Rome" all the time. It requires a level of shutting of your

            • You're probably right. There was nothing in the 2016 DNC Wikileaks that pointed to anti-bernie sentiment or a pro hillary agenda. Nobody resigned in disgrace and it was all a conspiracy. I didn't discuss the 2020 election, just the 2016 and the 2024 where there was questionable behavior.

              • If you think it's a conspiracy that Bernie failed to make any inroads with black and minority voters sure, you go right ahead. Unless you're going full magatard and you think the votes were rigged otherwise Hillary and Biden got more votes. I say this as a two-time Bernie primary voter. He just didn't get the votes and it didn't help that he had some of the worst fucking people on his campaign staff. I love Bernie but he's shite at staffing.

                Was there an anti-Bernie sentiment amongst the party executives

            • That's how elections work... you can win the big Popular vote, and still not get elected... it's been done the same way since like the 1780's...
              even though there's article after article that explains how the EC works, you still believe that the people voting for one person for Pres. and VP is decided by those people.

              Vote for whoever you want... Independent, Freak Party, whoever... and believe the system works however you think it does.
              I'll stick to the facts.

        • I both agree and disagree. Usually, those that complain about the "government" are the ones that put those in charge who are dismantling it and making it worse for non-billionaires. I blame one party most, but the other party isn't blameless. The government is another legal entity that doesn't exist outside of that context just like a corporation. You can't trust it or blame it, only the people who run it and/or it's structure/rules and how they adapt or don't. Corporations are more ephemeral than governm

          • Sorry but the strained version of both sideism you put forward is not simply boring today but its also irrelevant and it;'s also almost entirely borne out of the very one sided news apparatus you complain about.

            Both sidesing today is basically carrying the work of Fox news outside the TV and into real life and people who espouse it are unwittingly just doing their work. It's just stealth carrying conservative messaging.

            They've made "liberals be cringe right?!" a personality trait for people. Both sides!

        • Correct, the administration we all allowed to be put in place is a symptom of the wider issues at hand. Hence more proof the public education system in the US is a failure overall. Voting for new officials won't undo the damage to voter age individuals that were pushed through the system.
          Both sides are complacent, the lame duck Congresses, etc that has been pilling up over the past 30 years or more.

          • The last time we gave Democrats the trifecta with 60 votes they pushed through the only health care reform any of us have seen in the past 50 years. It was also one of the most productive Congresses in our lifetime

            The 111th Congress was the most productive congress since the 89th Congress. It enacted numerous significant pieces of legislation, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall St

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dfghjk ( 711126 )

        "The USA started out as a federal republic but has since degenerated into a kleprocratic neo-feudalist banana-republic run by a criminal mafia oligarchy"

        That the person you responded to FULLY supports, interestingly.

    • Re:NSA (Score:5, Informative)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @12:56PM (#66103318)

      The President can order the murders of all NSA staff, he can bomb NSA resources, and thanks to your party, the President can do this with "absolute immunity". Let's not forget the consequences of the people you support gaining power.

      Not that anything you said has merit. The NSA is part of the DoD, is the DoD accountable?

    • They defunded the predecessor the TIA by a vote in congress in 2003. It can be done again if people actually cared. If Snowden revealing the depths the NSA was probing it's own citizens didn't wake anyone up, it likely never will.

  • Smoke, mirrors and reality show (Score:3, Informative)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @12:13PM (#66103216)
    Anthropics "blacklisting" was basically a few social media posts by Hegseth, followed by the resulting court cases. It's a massive amount of reality-show drama for the cost of a few social media posts and a couple of court cases where good-looking lawyers pose and give histrionic over-the-top speeches in front of judges that are barely able to stop themselves from rolling their eyes. It's awesome entertainment for the masses, on an incredibly low budget.

    Meanwhile, the military is quietly still using Anthropic's products, and Anthropic is definitely continuing to get paid.

    You can pay attention to the reality show, or you can pay attention to the reality.

    • Re:Smoke, mirrors and reality show (Score:5, Informative)

      by smoot123 ( 1027084 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @01:05PM (#66103346)

      Anthropics "blacklisting" was basically a few social media posts by Hegseth,..You can pay attention to the reality show, or you can pay attention to the reality.

      My understanding is the DoD formally declared Anthropic a supply chain risk, which legally obligates all US federal government agencies (and recursively their suppliers) to stop using Anthropic code. I have no idea how many contracts actually were terminated. Lawsuits immediately started flying and I though the designation was stayed.

      Regardless, this is much, much more serious to Anthropic than a few tweets. It's real money and real loss of business.

      • and, yet, somehow, Claude continues to be used all over the federal government. So much for "formal declarations". And, no matter who says what on social medial, the legality of the situation is determined by the courts. Nobody else. No matter how orange their skin is or how square their jawline is.

        And, if the gubbermint is still using Claude, Anthropic is definitely still continuing to get paid in some way or another. So, I kinda doubt it's hurt their business much.

        Again, watch the reality, not the r

        • and, yet, somehow, Claude continues to be used all over the federal government. So much for "formal declarations".

          Ah. I see your point. In the reality we have today, yes, the declaration has not had it's full intended effect. Many government services continue to use Claude. All true. From that perspective, yes, the ban has had little practical effect on the ground.

          The law says the government and contractors have 180 days to stop using Claude (which is around September) and there's a stay in place preventing it from being enforced. I don't think it's surprising there has been little actual change in government Claude us

      • My understanding is the DoD formally declared Anthropic a supply chain risk, which legally obligates all US federal government agencies (and recursively their suppliers) to stop using Anthropic code.

        Your understanding is wrong.

        According to actual filing by the DOD lawyers -Secretary Hegseth expressed his intention in a social media post, but no such action ever formally occurred. The lawyers claimed that although he appeared to be speaking for the government in his official capacity, he was actually just exercising his first amendment right to state his personal opinion and frustrations.

        • According to actual filing by the DOD lawyers -Secretary Hegseth expressed his intention in a social media post, but no such action ever formally occurred.

          That's not what Anthropic reports. [anthropic.com]

          Other reporting confirms this. [mayerbrown.com]

          I have no idea whether there's a more formal process other than sending letters. Color me skeptical the this administration would follow any formally-defined process.

          • Ooop. You are clearly correct.

            Much has happened since that initial court filing I referenced... including actual, formal censure of Anthropic by DoD/USG

            • Glad to help. I know, it's poor form to bring actual references to a /. debate. TBH, I wasn't sure those references were accurate either: Anthropic could have been making stuff up or misrepresenting what the letter daid.

              Yes, a ton has happened since then. I think it's still an open question how this is going to end up.

            • That's what t he outward-facing side posts/says to placate people... behind closed doors, they probably have a perpetual license.

      • That's what is made public... betcha the football-fields worth of computers somewhere under the Pentagon are running Mythos just so they can hack anything they want "in secret".
        I bet you'd be surprised by how much stuff like that or even other stuff happens in 'closed door, off-the-record, totally Disavowed' meetings (and, of course, meetings and stuff like that is never known or discussed out in the hallway or breakroom.

        • I bet you'd be surprised by how much stuff like that or even other stuff happens in 'closed door,

          I'm cynical enough (and have read enough history) that I hope I wouldn't be surprised.

          I would be a bit surprised if Anthropic licensed Mythos to to a TLA if only because the revenue would be large and difficult to disguise. But then again, I bet Claude could gin up two dozen shell companies to launder the money while I got coffee.

    • Betcha that Project ECHELON (and, it's successors) and the NSA as a whole keep a copy around (even though they blacklisted it, just like CIA black sites don't exist) so they can hack into any countries computers without being detectable.

  • Buzz (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ebonum ( 830686 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @12:20PM (#66103236)

    It's genius. Say the product is too dangerous, and you can't have it. Have the few people who actual touch it sign NDAs.

    Sit back watch the news go wild.

    Company valuation jumps.

  • Claude's admin controls are far behind where they need to be. Way too much power is given to individual user authorization to do things that could damage the entire company even if you disable nearly all plugins/skills/connectors and this includes the previous versions of Claude, not just Mythos. At this point the only true security is good backup and its a wonder more companies aren't having to do full file system restores due to users exporting random code generated and running it. Anthropic might get the
  • I'm not nearly as worried about the NSA and Mythos as I am about what Trump's sycophants will do with it to mess with the upcoming elections, the Dem's email systems, and to trap and frame his political "enemies".

    • Even if they publicly state that they don't use it, you can bet your bank account that behind-closed-doors they have copies of it in all branches.
      Doesn't the 'opposing side' have their own sycophants also?
      Don't worry, the EC will decide the big November election same as always.

  • there is no deep state and elections have consequences..

    Yeah sure.

  • The myth of Mythos has done its job. How long do you think before Hegseth is DEMANDING to be give access?
  • Who wants to place bets that the source is some marketing manager? Who knows if the NSA is even using it. They could just have been given a license for free for it and never even dusted it off.

  • Two steps behind (Score:3)

    by LostMyBeaver ( 1226054 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @12:44AM (#66104468)
    The NSA almost certainly needs to investigate the possibility of a threat. As such, they'll use it test for these vulnerabilities within their test network and then possibly on a larger network. They will either deem it a threat or not.

    That said, there are a hundred open models which are always les than two steps behind Anthropic. So, assume that within a month, there will be a new open model matching or outperforming this one. And it will be a MoE and it will be untraceable.

    So... if Anthropic can't release theirs... don't worry. Anyone who has tried the pubic release of Qwen 3.6 35b on a RTX 3090 and a pile of MCPs knows we don't have long to wait.

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