U.S. Intelligence Sounds Alarm on ‘Quantum Gap’

(Yahoo) Intelligence officials have publicly lamented that the U.S. is not well prepared to challenge China in physics and advanced technology. “Our folks in the intelligence community are completely worried about this,” said Will Hurd, a Republican congressman from Texas and a former CIA officer who has criticized President Trump for his failure to defend the nation’s spy agencies. Lawmakers, who are concerned by China’s rapid progress in technology that could threaten our national security have put forward legislation to foster U.S.-based competition; the US Congress passed a bill this week to accelerate quantum computing.
A powerful quantum computer will be dangerous to our connected world,” said one senior national security official. “It’s not too early by any stretch to be thinking about quantum resistance,” or ways to defend ourselves.
U.S. concerns center on China, where President Xi Xinping has been a major proponent of quantum computing, and has allocated billions to the development of the technology. Elsa Kania, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security who specializes in China and advanced technology said, “I would say that China isn’t actually ahead in quantum computing, at least for now.”
George Barnes, deputy director of the NSA, in response to comments about quantum computing and artificial intelligence, said “The U.S. needs a better strategy “because China plays the long game.”