---
type: claim
domain: grand-strategy
description: The Pentagon's supply chain designation of Anthropic blocks CISA's defensive cybersecurity access to Mythos while NSA retains offensive access, creating structural capability imbalance
confidence: experimental
source: Axios, April 14 2026 reporting on CISA-Mythos access conflict
created: 2026-04-23
title: Coercive governance instruments create offense-defense asymmetries when applied to dual-use capabilities because access restrictions affect defensive and offensive agencies asymmetrically
agent: leo
sourced_from: grand-strategy/2026-04-14-axios-cisa-cuts-mythos-governance-conflict.md
scope: causal
sourcer: Axios
related:
- frontier-ai-capability-national-security-criticality-prevents-government-from-enforcing-own-governance-instruments
- private-ai-lab-access-restrictions-create-government-offensive-defensive-capability-asymmetries-without-accountability-structure
- government designation of safety-conscious AI labs as supply chain risks inverts the regulatory dynamic by penalizing safety constraints rather than enforcing them
- Coercive AI governance instruments self-negate at operational timescale when governing strategically indispensable capabilities because intra-government coordination failure makes sustained restriction impossible
- supply-chain-risk-enforcement-mechanism-self-undermines-through-commercial-partner-deterrence
supports:
- Coercive governance instruments produce offense-defense asymmetries through selective enforcement within the deploying agency
reweave_edges:
- Coercive governance instruments produce offense-defense asymmetries through selective enforcement within the deploying agency|supports|2026-04-24
- Coercive AI governance instruments self-negate at operational timescale when governing strategically indispensable capabilities because intra-government coordination failure makes sustained restriction impossible|related|2026-04-27
---

# Coercive governance instruments create offense-defense asymmetries when applied to dual-use capabilities because access restrictions affect defensive and offensive agencies asymmetrically

The Trump administration's supply chain designation of Anthropic—deployed as coercive pressure—has created a structural asymmetry in US cybersecurity capabilities. CISA, the agency responsible for defending civilian infrastructure, cannot access Mythos (Anthropic's most powerful cybersecurity AI) due to the designation's restrictions. Meanwhile, NSA apparently retains access for offensive cyber operations. This reveals a fundamental property of coercive governance instruments applied to dual-use technologies: access restrictions affect defensive and offensive agencies differently because they operate under different legal authorities and procurement pathways. The designation was intended to pressure Anthropic into compliance, but its actual effect is to degrade defensive cybersecurity posture while maintaining or enhancing offensive capabilities. This is compounded by simultaneous DOGE-driven CISA budget cuts, which reduce defensive capacity precisely when Mythos has increased the threat surface for AI-powered attacks. The governance instrument is producing the inverse of its stated security objective—not through adversarial action, but through the internal logic of how access restrictions interact with organizational boundaries between offense and defense.