As 2024 comes to a close, the push for post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum technology is accelerating. With Federal officials warning that quantum threats are approaching sooner than expected, Congress, Federal agencies, and industry have made significant strides toward becoming quantum-ready this year.
Here are some of this year’s top achievements and key insights as we look ahead to 2025.
Cybersecurity
In August, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) unveiled its first set of three ready-to-use encryption algorithms after starting on its journey for those quantum-resistant algorithms in 2015. Designed to withstand cyberattacks from a quantum computer, the algorithms are “the capstone of NIST’s efforts to safeguard our confidential electronic information,” according to NIST Director Laurie Locascio.
The three announced this summer – CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, and Sphincs+ – are just the first of a total of an estimated 15 that NIST plans to release. A fourth algorithm, FALCON, is expected to be released any day now after being slated for a late 2024 debut.
Bill Newhouse, the cybersecurity engineer and project lead for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCOE) at NIST, also announced in late October that after receiving 40 offers, the agency selected 14 PQC signatures which are working their way toward the public.
A new draft report published by NIST in November outlined how the agency plans to continue leading the transition to PQC standards.
In other cybersecurity and quantum-related news this year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Associate Chief of Strategic Technology Garfield Jones warned that adversaries may have already begun gathering encrypted data with plans to decrypt it later using quantum tech. Implementing zero trust architecture is the best preventative measure against data cyber threats, Jones said.
“They’re taking our data as we speak, and so that is something that [we] look at how we can slow down and stop,” said Jones.
Department of Defense
The Pentagon is making further advances in quantum technology with this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Provisions in the defense policy bill aim to boost funding and collaboration within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Quantum Benchmarking program to expedite the deployment of key quantum capabilities for DoD missions, and call for the Pentagon to develop a new strategic plan for quantum information sciences and technologies. The legislation passed the Senate in its final legislative week before the next Congress gets sworn in.
In earlier news, the DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) launched its Emerging Technology Portfolio to integrate nascent technology from commercial and non-traditional ecosystems, jump-starting the program with a focus on quantum sensing tech.
As the DoD pushes toward developing quantum sensing technology, pressure on the Pentagon has built from Congress, with several senators writing a letter to the Defense Department this fall pressing for more information on quantum sensing efforts.
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) also launched its Entangled Logical Qubits program this year, which aims to advance quantum technology by lowering the number of errors produced in the process of quantum research. Looking to lead in quantum, the Pentagon’s Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology (OASD(S&T)) said that as of June this past year the DoD had already invested $100 million in developing quantum applications at the edge.
“We’re busily working on other quantum technologies to equip positioning and timing at the edge of the warfighter so that they don’t have to rely on GPS all the time,” said John Burke, the principal director of quantum science within the OASD(S&T).
Looking to next year, the DoD has several quantum-based technologies led by the Defense Applications of Quantum-computers toward Architectures and Requirements program that will are coming “very soon” and will “dramatically” change things according to John Burke, the undersecretary of Defense for research and engineering for science and technology. Burke also shared that the Pentagon is looking at computing technology protection, and inertial and quantum sensors.
“[Quantum is] an enabler for another enabler,” said Burke. “We have to build a whole story around not just a quantum but in supply chain and the workforce going backwards, but all the way to the end use … And that’s a lot of the work we’re doing right now – is trying to complete those arcs of end use.”
Quantum Use Cases
While AI use cases have been the focus of many Federal agencies, quantum use cases have begun to pop up. Beyond quantum for defense, Rima Oueid, the senior commercialization executive at the Department of Energy (DoE), said that agencies have reached the point where they can advance beyond theoretical research and toward real-world quantum applications. A potential application that Oueid shared is a “quantum-enabled space economy for the revitalization of Earth,” pushed by a collaborative-effort across the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), DoE, and DoD.
The Department of Transportation also shared 18 priority areas where quantum technologies could optimize transportation – in areas including safety, cybersecurity, routing, and fuel efficiency – laying out a timeline and roadmap to implement the new technology within the next three years.
Congress
The latest look at quantum in Congress came in the form of the nearly hundred-page National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, which sought to authorize almost $3 billion in funding for quantum research and development at NIST, NSF, and NASA. It would extend the National Quantum Initiative passed in 2018 which created a national plan for advancing quantum technology.
Several other pieces of legislation were introduced to Congress this year to advance quantum science and defend cybersecurity. To address the shortfall in the Federal cyber workforce, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced the AI and Critical Technology Workforce Framework Act in February which would direct NIST to create a workforce framework for AI and other critical technologies such as quantum. The legislation was last referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
The NSF AI Education Act of 2024, introduced in May by Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., tasked NSF with awarding cyber scholarships for students pursuing a higher education and was last made eligible to be considered on the Senate floor.
The Defense Quantum Acceleration Act introduced by Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., in April sought to designate a principal quantum advisor to the secretary of Defense to boost the Pentagon’s approach to quantum technology. The bill was last referred to the Committee on Armed Services in the Senate.
In June, the Expanding Partnerships for Innovation and Competitiveness Act, which aims to build a nonprofit foundation to help NIST engage with academia, industry, and civil society organizations, was introduced by Reps. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Jay Obernolte, R-Calif.
While those pieces of legislation didn’t make it to President Biden’s desk in time, they show where the debate lies for the incoming 119th Congress in January.
Quantum Leadership
Wrapping up the year wouldn’t be complete without a look at what’s to come with the Trump administration’s arrival on January 20.
After the president-elect’s appointment of David Sacks as AI and Crypto Czar, industry officials said a new thinker and someone who is willing to “shake things up” is who they would like to see in a similar “czar” position for quantum.
The Federal government’s official watchdog, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), warned this winter that the Federal shift to PQC will fail if a singular entity doesn’t step up to oversee the transition, calling on the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) to lead the implementation of a national strategy.
“If the office embraces this role and ensures that the strategy fully addresses the desirable characteristics, the nation will have a better-defined roadmap for allocating resources and holding participants accountable,” GAO said.
