---
type: blog
source_url: https://www.axios.com/2026/06/12/anthropic-trump-mythos-fable-national-security
retrieved: 2026-06-13
title: "Trump admin blocks foreign access to Anthropic's most powerful AI"
author: "Alex Isenstadt, Maria Curi"
tags: [anthropic, export-controls, ai-regulation, trump-administration, mythos, fable]
---

# Trump admin blocks foreign access to Anthropic's Mythos 5 and Fable 5

The Trump administration on Friday (June 12, 2026) blocked foreign governments, companies, and individuals from accessing Anthropic's most advanced AI models — Mythos 5 and Fable 5 — escalating a months-long clash over national security.

## Key Details

**Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick** sent a letter to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on June 12 placing Mythos 5 and Fable 5 under export restrictions:
- Applied to **all destinations outside the United States**
- Applied to **all foreign nationals within the country**
- A license will be required for export, re-export, or domestic transfer
- Anthropic must submit individually validated license applications
- Failure to comply = financial and civil penalties

**Trigger:** Another company claimed it was able to jailbreak Mythos, alarming the administration about national security risks. The admin had tried to get Anthropic to pause releasing the latest models but was unsuccessful.

**Anthropic's response:** Cut off ALL customer access to Mythos 5 and Fable 5 late Friday night to ensure compliance. "We believe this is a misunderstanding and are working to restore access as soon as possible."

**Timeline:** The lockdown could last weeks — extending past June 22 when Anthropic had planned to move Fable 5 from free subscription to paid usage credits.

## Broader Context

The fraught relationship between the Trump administration and Anthropic:
- **February 2026:** Trump directed all federal agencies to "immediately cease all use" of Anthropic's technology
- **February 2026:** Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a "supply-chain risk to national security"
- **March 2026:** A federal judge temporarily halted those punitive measures
- **April 2026:** The White House negotiated with Anthropic for government access to Mythos
- **May 2026:** The White House opposed Anthropic's plan to expand Mythos access to ~120 organizations
- **June 2026:** Financial Times reported NSA was using Mythos for offensive cyber operations with Anthropic engineers embedded in classified facilities
- **June 2026 (earlier):** Trump admin released an executive order for voluntary pre-deployment testing of advanced AI models via CAISI (Commerce Department's Center for AI Standards and Innovation)
- **Anthropic now finds itself on a Pentagon blacklist** deeming it too dangerous for government use, AND in a Commerce licensing regime deeming it too dangerous for foreign use

## Key Quote

Anthropic: Applying such a standard would "essentially halt all new model deployments for all frontier model providers."

**White House position:** Trump "does not want to hurt the industry and wants innovation to continue." The executive order is explicitly voluntary and avoids a licensing regime — something chief AI adviser David Sacks secured to avoid "regulatory capture" of the biggest labs.

## Comparison to CAISI partnership

Anthropic has a partnership with the Center for AI Standards and Innovation at Commerce for pre-deployment testing, but the executive order framework is voluntary — making this export control action a significant escalation beyond that voluntary framework.

## Source Coverage

- Primary: Axios (Alex Isenstadt, Maria Curi) — scoop
- Confirmed: Reuters
- Additional context: TechCrunch, Constellation Research, The Hacker News, CNBC, Financial Times