Anthropic Strengthens Leadership Team with National Security Expert Appointment

The day following the announcement of new AI models designed for the national security needs of the United States, Anthropic appointed Richard Fontaine, a national security expert, as a long-term trusted advisor.

Anthropic’s long-term charitable trust serves as a governance mechanism that, according to the company, enables it to prioritize safety over profit and has the authority to elect certain members of its board of directors. Among the other trustees are Zachary Robinson, CEO of the Center for Effective Altruism, Neil Budd Shah, CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and Kanika Ball, president of Evidence Action.

In his statement, Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei remarked that Fontaine’s hiring “will enhance the trust’s ability to make difficult decisions” regarding AI and security.

“Richard’s expertise is particularly valuable at a critical time when advanced AI capabilities increasingly intersect with national security issues,” Amodei added. “I have long believed that ensuring the leadership of democratic nations in the responsible development of AI is essential for global security and the common good.”

Fontaine, who will not have any financial stake in Anthropic as a trustee, previously served as a foreign policy advisor to the late Senator John McCain and was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where he taught security studies. He led the Center for a New American Security, a national security think tank based in Washington, D.C., for over six years.

Anthropic is increasingly attracting clients from the U.S. national security sector in its pursuit of new revenue streams. In November, the company partnered with Palantir and AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing division and a key investor in Anthropic, to sell its AI solutions to defense customers.

It is important to note that Anthropic is not the only leading AI lab vying for defense contracts. OpenAI is working to foster closer ties with the U.S. Department of Defense, and Meta recently announced its plans to make its Llama models available for defense partners. Meanwhile, Google is enhancing its AI Gemini to operate in classified environments, and Cohere, primarily focused on AI products for business, is also collaborating with Palantir to deploy its AI models.

Fontaine’s appointment comes as Anthropic fortifies its leadership team; in May, the company added Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to its board of directors.

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