The Quantum Security Clock Is Ticking, and US Policy Is Short on Time

The US Senate’s recent report from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission delivered a clear warning: quantum technologies must be treated as mission-critical national capabilities. 

That framing puts quantum networking at the center of the next era of secure communications. But outdated US defense policy is holding the country back—and it needs to change fast.

Why US Policy Fell Behind

The core barrier is the National Security Agency’s 2020 decision on quantum key distribution (QKD), an early quantum networking approach. 

The NSA correctly identified QKD’s shortcomings — difficulty authenticating users, limited range, and other constraints — which signaled to industry that the US wasn’t ready to invest. 

But while US policy stayed frozen in 2020, quantum networking moved on. And so did other nations.

China has built an extensive quantum network linking universities and defense facilities. Europe and Japan now run coordinated quantum-communication programs of their own. 

By discouraging early investment, the US missed critical years to build testbeds, standards, and practical deployments, creating exactly the strategic gap the Senate report now flags.

A Growing Strategic Risk

The risks are no longer theoretical. In October, China stole data belonging to “every British citizen,” almost certainly as part of a “harvest now, decrypt later” campaign. 

The attack underscored a growing danger: sensitive data stolen today could be decrypted sooner than expected. As quantum capabilities accelerate globally, the risk that stored data will be exposed increases.

And in the years since the NSA’s QKD guidance, quantum networking has evolved significantly. 

A second generation of the technology, called “entanglement-based” networks, now addresses many of QKD’s limitations. These systems can transmit stable quantum states over ordinary commercial fiber, alongside classical data, with high fidelity. 

They’re already connecting research centers in major cities, and will soon link data centers, and ultimately, continents.

To be clear, these networks still face distance limitations beyond roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles). But major enterprise players are now investing in the hardware and repeaters needed to extend these capabilities beyond metropolitan distances.

A New Security Model

Modern quantum networks are important because they don’t just slow attackers down; they flip the security model entirely. Quantum entanglement is inherently fragile, making eavesdropping nearly impossible to hide.

It also enables position-authentication protocols that classical systems simply cannot perform. For national security systems that cannot tolerate undetected compromise, this shift is decisive.

That is why the NSA’s 2020 stance must be updated to reflect the capabilities of modern quantum networking. Once the policy is revised, the next steps are clear: fund quantum-networking testbeds linking federal research centers, intelligence agencies, and defense contractors. 

In many ways, the need resembles the early ARPANET era: a coordinated federal effort to build, test, and standardize secure communications that could operate across institutions and eventually, across the globe.

Rebuilding US Leadership

The Department of Defense should also establish technical requirements for quantum-network deployments supporting national security missions. Clear standards will guide industry development and ensure US and allied systems remain interoperable.

Congress, for its part, should broaden its quantum investments beyond computing, sensing, and cryptography to include entanglement-based network infrastructure. 

These networks offer security far beyond what classical systems can deliver today while laying the groundwork for the future quantum internet. Funding them now is essential to maintaining US leadership.

The Senate report is right: the US must treat quantum communications as essential infrastructure. Updating outdated policy is the first step to ensuring the US can build and ultimately lead the secure quantum networks of the future.

Noel Goddard is the CEO of Qunnect.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Defense Post.

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