Daily Tech News Show What It Takes to Declare a Company a Supply Chain Risk - DTNS WEEKEND
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Mar 7, 2026 A deep dive into what legally counts as a supply chain risk and the statutes that govern those decisions. They walk through two different legal paths for declaring a company risky and the procedures each requires. The discussion examines recent Pentagon actions around Anthropic and what that could mean for federal contractors and procurement rules.
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What Supply Chain Risk Legally Means
- Supply chain risk covers deliberate sabotage or subversion of a covered system's design, manufacture, distribution, operation, or maintenance.
- Tom Merritt cites the law definition and explains the risk focuses on adversary actions to surveil, deny, disrupt, or degrade system function, not mere contractual disputes.
U.S Company Actions Can Trigger Adversary Label
- A U.S. company can still be treated as an adversary under the statute if its actions effectively degrade or disrupt government use of a product.
- Merritt contrasts Anthropic's contract refusal to enable certain uses with the statutory idea of an adversary subverting function.
Use FASCSA And FASC For Civil Supply Chain Actions
- Use the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act (FASCSA) route to list entities via the Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC) for civil exclusions or removals.
- Merritt details the council membership, 30-day company notice, and publication on SAM.gov that forces contractor compliance.