Quantum Computing: A Primer on U.S. Preparedness
- 1. QUANTUM COMPUTING A PRIMER FOR U.S. READINESS Nick Van Zandt Jan 3, 2019
- 2. “Because nations around the world, including China, are investing heavily in research and development, the world is likely less than a decade away from the day when a nation-state could use quantum computers to render many of today’s most sophisticated encryption systems useless.” –Will Hurd, US Congress, Fmr CIA “A quantum computer capable of hacking cloud encryption is not estimated to arrive until at least 2026…but experts have highlighed how it can take big organizations like DoD up to 10 years to fully change their encryption.” – Thomas Keelan, Hudson Institute
- 3. WHAT IS QUANTUM COMPUTING? • Works completely different from regular computers • Your computer stores information in bits (1’s and 0’s) • Bits can only ever be a 1 or 0, either on or off • QC is made of qubits (can be both 1 & 0 at same time) • Several entangled qubits with all their states connected together creates “superposition” (being both 1 and 0) • The more cubits in superposition, the greater the power to run unfathomable number calculations • Identified as the “fifth generation” of computers
- 7. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN PRACTICE? CLASSICAL COMPUTER Tests every possible path one at a time After trying every outcome, eventually finds the exit QUANTUM COMPUTER Looks at maze in its entirety and shows exit solution as the likely solution
- 8. WHAT IS THE VALUE OF QC TODAY? Pharmaceuticals using QC to vastly increase granular personalization of prescription drugs for individual patients Determine attractive portfolios calculating thousands of assets with interconnecting dependencies and to better identify fraud indicators Supply chain optimization to track global supply chains across multiple variables like distribution, procurement, production, etc Assess traffic patterns in real time in large cities like Beijing to accurately predict arrival times and feed data into autonomous car networks
- 9. WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL THAT QC HOLDS? Pharmaceutica ls using QC to vastly increase granular personalization of prescription drugs for individual patients Quantum communication networks to lead into a new quantum internet with vastly more processing power and far more advanced cryptography Quantum cryptography capable of cracking any existing encryption known today from email encryption through advanced classified networks in seconds NASA to process data so large that supercomputers today cannot process. Data comes from trillions of galaxies, stars, planets and asteriods. By 2030 QC with AI will be able to open the door to discover hundreds of thousands of new planets throughout universe. China has already successfully teleported a photon from ground to space using QC. Russia has invested heavily into making teleportation real using QC. What may seem like pure science fiction today may become reality in our lifetimes
- 10. WHAT IS BIGGEST AREA OF CONCERN? ENCRYPTION If all microprocessor-based supercomputers today started working in unison to try to crack today’s standard RSA encryption through brute force, they wouldn’t be even be 1% of the way there by the time the sun enters its Red Giant phase and consumes the Earth…in 6 billion years! QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY It is estimated QC will have enough qubits (4000) to break that RSA encryption prior to 2026. Online bank transfers, email, classified networks…virtually everything we rely on for security and privacy will be immediately transparent to actors using QC in minutes or seconds.
- 11. WHAT IS THE CAUSE FOR ALARM? Andrey Akimov Alexander Abramov Alexander Galitsky RQC BOARD MEMBERS & “PUTIN’S OLIGARCHS” –US Dept Treasury VADIM MAKAROV Director of “Quantum Hacking Lab” at RQC leading team to use QC to break encryption
- 12. WHAT IS THE CAUSE FOR ALARM? $11 billion quantum laboratory Hefei, China CHINESE LANUCH FIRST QUANTUM SATELLITE Gobi Desert, Aug 2016 China announced intent to achieve “quantum supremacy” and are investing billions Launch of quantum satellite is intended to create first unhackable ground-to-space quantum communications network that is not dependent on fiber optic cables. Claimed they have engineered a quantum radar capable of penetrating current stealth technologies for aircraft and submarines in deep waters. China’s leading QC expert said they are looking at QC applications for “the immediate use of the Chinese armed forces.”
- 13. HOW IS THE UNITED STATES PREPARED? SIMPLE ANSWER…WE’RE NOT The United States is currently investing ~$300M a year in QC, which is vastly less than China. Funds are disbursed to various agencies and there is no overlying national strategy (Repeating same mistakes as AI) Fun Fact: Total US cost for Manhattan Project: $27B WHERE QC IS HAPPENING IN THE USA PUBLIC PRIVATE
- 14. EXISTING LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK LEGISLATION TITLE INTRODUCED STATUS* S.3143 National Quantum Initiative Act 06/26/2018 Referred to Committee H.R.6227 National Quantum Initiative Act 06/26/2018 Became Law – 12/21/2018 H.R.6229 National Institute of Standards and Technology Reauthorization Act 06/26/2018 Introduced in House S.2998 Quantum Computing Research Act 6/5/2018 Referred to Committee H.R.5356 National Security Commission Artificial Intelligence Act of 2018 3/20/2018 Introduced in House S.3361 Fair Trade with China Enforcement Act 8/21/2018 Introduced in Senate H.R.5515 John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 4/13/2018 Became Law – 8/13/2018 Existing federal law on topic of QC orders Secretary of Defense: • To ensure global superiority of the United States in quantum information science Development of defense-related quantum computing algorithms Development of secure quantum communications protocols for secure communications and cryptography To accelerate the transition of applied quantum information science to the Armed Forces *Status as of Jan 3, 2019
- 15. REFERENCES Costs of the Manhattan Project https://www.brookings.edu/the-costs-of-the-manhattan-project/ Quantum Computing Maze https://community.cadence.com/cadence_blogs_8/b/on-the-beat/posts/quantum-computing-101 Let’s Talk Quantum Computing for Business https://www.ibm.com/blogs/insights-on-business/gbs-strategy/lets-talk-quantum-computing-for-business/ What will NASA be Doing with its New Quantum Computer? https://io9.gizmodo.com/what-will-nasa-be-doing-with-its-new-quantum-computer-1468333514 Winning the Race in Quantum Computing https://www.americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/05/winning-the-race-in-quantum-computing/ Congress.Gov https://www.congress.gov/ Full List of Russian Oligarchs Released by US www.cnn.com/2018/01/30/politics/full-us-list-of-russian-oligarchs-with-putin-tie s-intl/index.html How China is Using Quantum Physics to Take over the World www.newsweek.com/china-using-quantum-physics-take-over-world-695026 Quantum Computers: Solving Problems in Minutes, not Millennia www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/toshiya-hari-quantum- computing.html?mediaIndex=1&autoPlay=true&cid=sch-pd-google-outsidersquantumcomputing-searchad-20183-- &mkwid=eaBHVnnV&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlaTy-Le93QIVAgZpCh3WkgwREAAYAyAAEgLgE_D_BwE Quantum Computing is the Next Big Security Risk https://www.wired.com/story/quantum-computing-is-the-next-big-security-risk/ How the Pentagon’s New Cloud Initiative Ignores the Quantum Threat https://www.hudson.org/research/14535-how-the-pentagon-s-new-cloud-initiative-ignores-the-quantum-threat The Race for Quantum Supremacy https://medium.com/conduitcomputing/the-race-for-quantum-supremacy-46aa64fe478a