President Biden is preparing to sign an executive order and a national security memo Wednesday to advance quantum information. The effort will work to put the United States in a position to propel past adversaries with emerging technologies that could be considered national security threats.
Fox News reports:
Quantum technologies are not a replacement to traditional computers, but rather a “fundamentally different kind of computer” with the ability to analyze information in ways that traditional computers cannot. Quantum technologies, according to officials, have shown the potential to drive innovation in the American economy.
“The goal of both the executive order and the National Strategy Memorandum is to ensure that we leapfrog well ahead of everyone else, both by promoting quantum information science and the benefits it can potentially bring from energy to medicine, in various areas of the economy, as well as to begin what will likely be a decade long transition to protect our systems from an adversary having a potential quantum computer,” a senior administration official said.
The official added: “America must start the lengthy process of updating our IT infrastructure today to protect against this quantum computing threat tomorrow.”
The president is also set to sign a national security memo outlining his administration’s plans to address the risks posed by quantum computers to America’s cybersecurity. However, administration officials stressed that cybersecurity and technological innovation are not in conflict.
“Current research shows that at some point in the not too distant future, when quantum information science matures and quantum computers are able to reach a sufficient size and level of sophistication, they’ll be capable breaking much of the cryptography that currently secures our digital communications,” a senior administration official said.
The president’s national security memo sets requirements for federal agencies to update those cryptographic systems
