Former head of ‘Pentagon’s think tank’ joins Anthropic

James Baker ANTHROPIC By Patrick Tucker Science & Technology Editor May 1, 2026 09:24 AM ET Artificial Intelligence Pentagon The United States has “a tight time window to adapt” to the “civilizational" challenge of AI, according to a former senior Pentagon thinker who's joining Anthropic as a “strategist-in-residence.”James Baker led the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment—often referred to as the “Pentagon’s Think Tank”—from 2015 to 2025, when it was temporarily closed by the Trump administration. At Anthropic—the AI company now amid a six-month withdrawal from federal service, as ordered by President Trump—Baker will to lead analysis of how AI is affecting U.S. institutions and competition with China, the company announced Friday.As ONA director, Baker advised defense secretaries and national security advisors on the long-term effects of emerging technology on national security; he had earlier served on the Joint Staff and in other advisory roles.For decades, ONA helped the U.S. military adapt to social, economic, environmental, and technological trends. The office was established in 1973 by Andrew Marshall, a policy strategist in the Nixon administration. Using a data-driven, “system-of-systems” approach, it sought to predict the interrelation and effects of trends from tech development to military affairs to labor. The office