DOD offices see post-quantum cryptography as 'mission critical'

Officials at the Department of Defense shed light on their agency’s plans to modernize their encryption infrastructure ahead of the anticipated advent of a fault-tolerant quantum computer, discussing familiar policy goals like private sector collaboration and supporting warfighter operations moving into 2024.

Wanda Jones-Heath, the principal cyber advisor at the U.S. Air Force ​​said that updating the department’s encryption from classical cryptographic schemes to a network armed with post-quantum cryptographic standards. She said that this migration is “mission imperative” for the Air Force to ensure its cybersecurity defenses can handle emerging threats.

“If we had not started this two years ago, we would be even further behind,” she said in remarks on a panel on Tuesday hosted by General Dynamics Information Technology. “Now we are again [in] a sense of urgency...this is a national security issue.”