Stop Waiting for Q-Day: The Quantum Clock Is Ticking

The race to prepare for quantum computing has a timing problem: Nobody knows exactly when a cryptographically relevant quantum computer will arrive.

But at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance’s 2026 Intelligence & National Security Summit, panelists had a clear message for government agencies, national security organizations, and their industry partners: that uncertainty is not a reason to wait.

During the “Quantum-Ready: Navigating the 2027 Mandate for National Security” session, experts from government, academia, think tanks, and industry focused less on predicting a specific quantum breakthrough and more on what organizations should be doing now to protect sensitive information, modernize cryptography, and prepare their systems for a rapidly changing technology environment. The panel included representatives from the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, CISA, the University of Maryland, CNAS, and SandboxAQ.

The standing-room-only session also underscored how much attention quantum readiness is getting across the national security community.

Stop Waiting for ‘Q-Day’

Much of the quantum cybersecurity conversation has revolved around “Q-Day,” the theoretical point when quantum computers become powerful enough to break widely used public-key cryptography.