Leading at Light Speed: Quantum Will Redefine Global Power

Freedom’s frontiers are shifting—and quantum technology is reshaping the battlefield. From stealth detection to ultra-secure communications, quantum tools are no longer future threats. They’re here. And if America fails to act with urgency, we risk ceding tomorrow’s strategic advantage to authoritarian rivals who are already operationalizing it.

In a recent Chinese naval demonstration, quantum sensors mounted on drones detected simulated submerged vessels—without using sonar. This breakthrough in quantum sensing could upend long-standing assumptions about undersea stealth. At the same time, China is building a globe-spanning quantum communications network. Its Micius satellite enabled the world’s first ultra-secure quantum communication link between space and ground stations over a distance exceeding 1,000 km. Its follow-on systems—including the operational Jinan-1—have pushed that range to 12,900 km.

These aren’t far-off scenarios from a speculative future. They are operational technologies reshaping the battlespace and the global information domain.

Quantum technologies are simultaneously sharpening the sword and strengthening the shield. They offer tools of disruption—revealing stealth platforms, cracking today’s encryption, and enabling new forms of real-time surveillance. But they also provide strategic resilience: silent navigation, unhackable communications, and dramatically enhanced decision-making systems. The stakes for national security and economic leadership are real, rising, and global.

Recognizing this, Congress passed the National Quantum Initiative Act (NQIA) in 2018 to fund foundational research through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Energy (DOE). It was a vital first move—but it is no longer enough. China has invested an estimated $15 billion in quantum, far outpacing America’s roughly $4 billion. China leads in quantum communications, and is close to America’s capabilities in quantum sensing. According to recent U.S. defense intelligence assessments, quantum is no longer a future concern—it is an operational reality.

The strategic posture is shifting. At a recent event, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Paul Dabbar stated that the federal strategy must evolve “from discovery to devices and deployment”—a major pivot ahead of Congress’s pending NQI reauthorization. Simply reauthorizing NQIA would be inadequate. Congress must expand and reimagine it as a whole-of-nation strategy.

Unlike past breakthroughs in nuclear, space, or digital technologies, quantum’s progress will not come from a single agency, discipline, or sector. We need a new playbook that synchronizes our advantages—cutting-edge research universities, dynamic startups, trusted national labs, and world-class Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs)—into one strategically aligned system.

Here’s what that expanded initiative should include:

First, mission-driven coordination. Agencies like NSF, DOE, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) each pursue their own goals. An upgraded NQIA should mandate shared roadmaps for mission-critical deployments—like quantum key distribution (QKD), submarine detection, and cryptographic resilience.

Second, university-led regional hubs. America’s higher education institutions must remain magnets for global talent and foundational research. They need more research grants and compute power to enable them to drive quantum workforce development, translational engineering, and public-private collaboration.

Third, accelerate deployment and business preparedness. U.S. firms from Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft to startups like PsiQuantum are pushing the frontier. But without clear policy signals, many are hesitant to scale. The next NQIA must support procurement pilots, cost-sharing partnerships, and commercialization pipelines to bring quantum technologies out of the lab and into service—before geopolitical competitors get there first. Businesses, too, must wake up to the threat. They can’t afford to treat quantum as tomorrow’s problem while AI dominates today’s agenda.

Fourth, develop the quantum workforce. We cannot scale quantum without people trained to build, operate, and secure it. The University of Colorado’s CUbit Quantum Initiative offers a promising model. Congress should support such efforts including with national fellowships, curriculum development, technical certifications, and K–12 awareness programs.

Fifth, bridge discovery and deployment

China’s civil-military fusion unites research, defense, and industry in pursuit of quantum dominance. The U.S. must respond on its own terms—by more fully leveraging FFRDCs. With their unique public-private structure and government trust, FFRDCs are well-positioned to connect academic breakthroughs to mission-ready prototypes. Empowering them as agile testbeds can accelerate the transition of quantum innovation from lab to field.

Sixth, lead on global governance. As with AI and biotechnology, quantum technologies pose dual-use challenges. Export controls, international security standards, and ethical frameworks must be established—and the U.S. must lead that conversation. An interagency council drawing from Defense, State, and Commerce should be institutionalized in the next NQIA.

The real contest isn’t merely for the first universal quantum computer—it’s over building the first quantum-powered infrastructure: global secure communications, sensing, AI-enhanced analytics, and integrated human-machine systems. This is the standard being set by adversaries. Quantum sensing threatens to erode our undersea deterrent. “Harvest now, decrypt later” strategies could compromise today’s encrypted secrets tomorrow. Time is not on our side. America has met moments like this before—from the Manhattan Project to the space race to the silicon revolution.

Congress should reauthorize the NQIA—but it must do more. It must expand it into a strategic vehicle for quantum leadership—one that leverages the full breadth of American capability to meet this generational imperative. The quantum race is on. The lead is still within reach. But if America fails to act, it may soon find itself defending yesterday’s systems with yesterday’s tools—against strategic competitors wielding tomorrow’s power.

About the Co-Author

Troy E. Dunn is a retired U.S. Air Force Major General and a strategic advisor on emerging technologies.