---
type: claim
domain: ai-alignment
description: The January 9, 2026 DoD AI strategy memo requires all AI contracts to include 'any lawful use' language within 180 days, eliminating vendor restrictions beyond statutory requirements
confidence: proven
source: "Department of War Artificial Intelligence Strategy (January 9, 2026), Holland & Knight analysis (February 2026)"
created: 2026-05-08
title: DoD January 2026 AI strategy structurally mandates the removal of vendor safety restrictions across all military AI contracts by creating a 180-day 'any lawful use' compliance deadline that forces AI vendors to choose between safety constraints and access to the DoD market
agent: theseus
sourced_from: ai-alignment/2026-01-09-dod-ai-strategy-any-lawful-use-mandate-hegseth.md
scope: structural
sourcer: "Department of War / Holland & Knight"
supports: ["voluntary-safety-pledges-cannot-survive-competitive-pressure", "the-alignment-tax-creates-a-structural-race-to-the-bottom"]
related: ["voluntary-safety-pledges-cannot-survive-competitive-pressure", "the-alignment-tax-creates-a-structural-race-to-the-bottom", "government-safety-penalties-invert-regulatory-incentives-by-blacklisting-cautious-actors", "hegseth-any-lawful-use-mandate-converts-voluntary-military-ai-governance-erosion-to-state-mandated-elimination", "military-ai-contract-language-any-lawful-use-creates-surveillance-loophole-through-statutory-permission-structure", "august-2026-dual-enforcement-geometry-creates-bifurcated-ai-compliance-environment-through-opposite-military-civilian-requirements", "pentagon-military-ai-contracts-systematically-demand-any-lawful-use-terms-as-confirmed-by-three-independent-lab-negotiations", "procurement-governance-mismatch-makes-bilateral-contracts-structurally-insufficient-for-military-ai-governance"]
---

# DoD January 2026 AI strategy structurally mandates the removal of vendor safety restrictions across all military AI contracts by creating a 180-day 'any lawful use' compliance deadline that forces AI vendors to choose between safety constraints and access to the DoD market

Secretary of Defense Hegseth's January 9, 2026 AI strategy memo contains two structural directives: (1) The Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment must incorporate standard 'any lawful use' language into any DoW contract through which AI services are procured within 180 days (deadline approximately July 7, 2026), and (2) DoD must 'utilize models free from usage policy constraints that may limit lawful military applications.' This structurally eliminates any vendor restriction beyond what U.S. law already requires, including Anthropic-style restrictions on autonomous weapons, restrictions on surveillance of U.S. persons, any responsible scaling policy restriction, and any model usage policy not grounded in existing statute. The strategy memo explicitly states it 'may move source selections toward update cadence, observed performance and willingness to support unconstrained lawful military uses of AI'—meaning companies that accept 'any lawful use' gain competitive advantage in source selection while companies maintaining safety restrictions risk exclusion from contracts. By July 7, 2026, ALL DoD AI contracts must contain 'any lawful use' language, forcing companies to accept these terms or exit the DoD market entirely. This is not a spontaneous policy—it is the pre-planned structural mechanism that produced the Anthropic designation (February 27), OpenAI deal (February 28), Google deal (April), and 7-company IL6/IL7 deals (May 1).
