Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., endorsed an aggressive effort by U.S. policymakers to help governments and businesses adapt to a future where quantum computers can break most standard forms of encryption. She also confirmed key details of a White House initiative on quantum technology previously reported by CyberScoop, while also promoting her own legislation on quantum migration and related strategies.
Blackburn, chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data, told audiences at a Wednesday event hosted by Politico that such an effort is needed to ensure that American technology is prepared well in advance for the shift and to counter potential threats from countries like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
Blackburn said lawmakers are asking questions about these countries such as, “What type of development are they doing? What kind of experimentation are they doing? And what is the expectation of those applications?”
“Now those are answers that we don’t know, so it is up to us to say, ‘how do we best prepare ourselves and how do we make certain that China is not going to lead this emerging tech space by 2049 — which is their goal — and how do we [combat] that?’” Blackburn said.
When asked about reports that the White House was planning its own slate of executive actions, Blackburn confirmed elements of that push, saying Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science, Technology and Policy, and White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks are doing “a tremendous job.” Kratsios is among the White House officials leading the federal quantum effort, in tandem with the Commerce Department and the Office of Management and Budget, sources told CyberScoop last month.
However, Blackburn did not provide a timeline for any formal rollout by the administration, and promoted legislation like the National Quantum Cybersecurity Migration Strategy Act she co-sponsored with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., as a vehicle for speeding up federal quantum migration strategies.
That bill would mandate that federal agencies move at least one high-risk information system to quantum-resistant encryption by Jan 1, 2027.
“You look at agencies like the IRS … you look at [the Department of Defense] and some of the cyber implications and you say, ‘OK, this makes sense,’” Blackburn said. “So, what we are trying to do is push them to move forward and not say, ‘well, we’ll get around to that later.’”
She characterized the White House initiative as focused on strengthening the quantum workforce, increasing commercial sector involvement, and ensuring strong security and encryption is in place to deal with threats from China and other adversaries.
“That I feel is more of the definition of how the White House sees this as moving forward,” Blackburn said.
Blackburn is leading or co-sponsoring several other quantum-related bills on the Hill, including the Defense Quantum Acceleration Act, which would require DOD to develop a strategic quantum roadmap, the Quantum Sandbox for Near-Term Applications Act, which would create a sandbox environment for quantum computing experimentation housed within the National Institute for Standards and Technology, and the Advancing Quantum Manufacturing Act, which would create a federal institute for quantum manufacturing.
