On May 4, 2022, the US President signed National Security Memorandum 10, a document with a long title: “Promoting United States Leadership in Quantum Computing While Mitigating Risks to Vulnerable Cryptographic Systems.”
Its policy has two prongs. The United States is to keep its lead in quantum information science, and it is to move to quantum-resistant cryptography “in a timely and equitable manner.” The memorandum says quantum computing could power innovation across the American economy but also carries significant risks to economic and national security.
What the memorandum asks for
On the encryption side, the memorandum puts a priority on cryptographic agility. The idea is to shorten the switchover and make it easier to update systems when future standards arrive. It set a series of deadlines for federal agencies to support the transition.
It also tells the government to protect quantum research, intellectual property and the enabling technologies and materials behind them, and to guard US-developed quantum technology against theft by adversaries.
New standards and a workshop
On August 13, 2024, the White House and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) convened officials, agency representatives and industry partners. Officials announced NIST’s new Post Quantum Cryptography standards, a set of encryption algorithms built to withstand cyberattacks from a quantum computer. A roundtable with industry leaders followed, centered on how to ease the move to the new standards and clear institutional barriers.
Earlier, on September 29 and 30, 2022, roughly forty experts from the cybersecurity and quantum computing communities met for a workshop on the cybersecurity of quantum computers. Participants said security belongs in the design from the start, and that research should begin while quantum machines are still young.
Other federal moves
An interagency body, the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on the Economic and Security Implications of Quantum Science, coordinates on security questions. It has helped ensure that the Technology Protection Plans required under the memorandum balance protection with the need to innovate.
In September 2024, working with international partners, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security released an interim final rule on export controls for certain quantum technologies. A month later, the Treasury Department issued a final rule on US investments in national security technologies in countries of concern, known as the Outbound Order. It names quantum information technologies among the products covered by its prohibition and notification requirement.
