An AI Company Cares More About the Constitution Than the Defense Secretary Does | Alani Bankhead

Original air date: February 27, 2026 A former counterintelligence officer on how hard it should be to investigate an American, and why threats to blacklist a company for refusing to spy on citizens should worry everyone. A corporate AI company cares more about the Constitution than the SecDef does In the counterintelligence world, it is incredibly difficult to initiate an investigation on a U.S. person And it should be that way For me to open a counterintelligence case, I had to rightfully jump through many legal hoops to demonstrate that it was in our nation’s best interest to investigate a U.S. person as a threat to national security The rules on keeping those records are also incredibly strict, because the intelligence community is not in the business of spying on its own people History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes J. Edgar Hoover felt so threatened by MLK Jr and other activists, he used the FBI’s powers to spy on He is the reason intel oversight executive orders and policies The Anthropic CEO’s statement saying they won’t allow their AI tool to be used against Americans speaks volumes And Hegseth is threatening to blacklist them and pull hundreds of millions on contracts There *are* companies that put people over profits And it takes a lot of courage to do so I’m running, because I can’t watch these abuses continue But I need your help Because if Hegseth gets his way, you will be targeted — including 5th generation Caucasian citizens who were born and raised here These campaigns are expensive, and I’m not taking PAC or dark money More: https://alaniformt.com/ai Volunteer: https://alaniformt.com/get-involved Donate: https://alaniformt.com/donate #Montana #MTSen #AlaniBankhead Paid for by Friends of Alani Bankhead. The use of military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Department of the Air Force or the Department of Defense.