Under the National Defense Authorization Act and Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 4.2, the Secretary of Defense can designate a contractor as a "supply chain risk" and bar it from federal contracts without the normal due process protections. Historically applied to foreign adversaries like Huawei and ZTE, the designation had never been used against an American company prior to the Anthropic case. It allows the government to act without providing evidence or allowing a rebuttal hearing.