White House Quantum Office Sees 20-Year Process on Encryption

(Meritalk) The White House’s National Quantum Coordination Office is taking a 20-year view of the ongoing effort by the Federal government to create encryption technologies that will not be defeated by quantum computing technologies once quantum tech goes mainstream.
Jake Taylor, interim director of the White House Quantum Office, explained recently that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been working since at least 2016 to identify quantum-resistant encryption technologies. In September 2018, NIST signed a cooperative research and development deal with SRI International to lead the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, with an aim to “expand U.S. leadership in global quantum research and development and the emerging quantum industry in computing, communications and sensing.”
The biggest change in the quantum area in the last five years, Taylor said, is a shift from being a “pure research field” to being a research field that has attracted a lot of engagement and investment from large tech firms and start-ups.