NIST Publishes Guidance to Meet Federal Post-Quantum Deadlines

The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published official guidance designed to help federal government agencies meet the 2031 deadline to transition post-quantum cryptography (PQC).

President Trump’s Executive Order 14412, published in June 2026, mandated that all US federal agencies transition “high value assets” and “high impact systems” to use PQC for key establishment by December 31 2030 and for “digital signatures” by December 31 2031.

NIST’s new document sets out a transition plan for agencies and organizations that work with the federal government to meet this deadline. The guidance references the post-quantum algorithm standards that NIST published in 2024.

“These deadlines leave little margin: meeting them will require immediate and sustained action by federal agencies and by the technology providers, standards organizations, and infrastructure operators on which federal systems depend,” NIST wrote.

How to Prioritize the PQC Transition

The NIST report emphasized the logistical complexity that comes with the PQC transition. It outlined the approaches that can be taken for different types of systems and data to ensure security teams to take a risk-based approach to the transition.