Nextgov/FCW - Emerging Tech

Commerce commits to funding incentives with 9 companies to spur quantum development

Alexandra Kelley — Thu, 21 May 2026 15:34:00 -0400

The Commerce Department signed letters of intent with nine quantum computing and quantum foundry companies to provide funding from the CHIPS and Science Act to support innovation in quantum computing.

Announced on Thursday, $2.013 billion in CHIPS funding will go to IBM, GlobalFoundries, Atom Computing, Diraq, D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum and Rigetti to spur different components of the burgeoning quantum computing ecosystem.

IBM and GlobalFoundries will receive $1 billion and $375 million, respectively, to build quantum tech-specific foundries. IBM will focus on manufacturing quantum-grade superconducting wafers, while GlobalFoundries will be tasked with scaling components of leading quantum computing architectures and modalities, such as superconducting circuits, photonics, trapped ions and more.

The remaining seven companies will use Commerce’s funding to improve their proprietary quantum computing technologies and modalities. Infleqtion, for example, manufactures quantum computers powered by neutral atom systems, and will receive $100 million to further scale its work.

Of the seven companies funded to continue innovation in their individual quantum computing spaces, Diraq, which specializes in quantum computing via silicon spin qubits, received $38 million. The other six each received $100 million.

“With today’s CHIPS Research and Development investments in quantum computing, the Trump administration is leading the world into a new era of American innovation,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a press release. “These strategic quantum technology investments will build on our domestic industry, creating thousands of high-paying American jobs while advancing American quantum capabilities.”

Commerce’s announcement follows the Trump administration’s behind-the-scenes work on at least one executive action that will spur agency migration to post-quantum cryptographic standards ahead of the advent of a cryptographically-viable quantum computer, which poses a threat to the classical encryption schemes safeguarding modern digital networks.

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Air Force taps Salesforce’s Army contract for personnel modernization work

Nick Wakeman — Wed, 13 May 2026 15:28:00 -0400

Salesforce has signed a new $72 million enterprise license agreement with the Air Force to modernize personnel management and other functions using artificial intelligence.

This is part of a $5.6 billion contract Salesforce and the Army inked in January. The idea was that the vehicle would be open to all of the Defense Department.

The agreement with the Air Force is meant to enhance situational awareness and unify business functions like personnel management, Salesforce said Wednesday.

The Air Force will use Salesforce's Missionforce National Security offering, which includes artificial intelligence tools.

“Leveraging enterprise-wide contract vehicles accelerates our procurement timelines, optimizes resource allocation, and ensures our Airmen and Guardians are equipped with the agile technology necessary for today's dynamic mission environments," said Keith Hardiman, deputy chief information officer for the Air Force.

The Air Force is using the Salesforce agreement to consolidate contracts, reduce the number of contract actions and achieve volume-based savings.

The agreement also aims to help the Air Force connect its digital infrastructure to gain a view across personnel recruiting and logistics.

The Air Force will also be able to pilot implementation of Salesforce’s Agentforce, an agentic AI solution, which is intended to enable automation of workflows and support decision-making at the edge.

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House lawmakers introduce quantum initiative reauthorization

Alexandra Kelley — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 15:07:00 -0400

House lawmakers introduced their version of the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act on Thursday, which focuses on developing and advancing quantum information sciences and technology applications.

Led by Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, and cosponsored by Reps. Brian Babin, R-Texas, and Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., the bill’s agenda is coordinated through the National Science and Technology Council’s Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science, which steers federal agencies to identify use cases for quantum information technologies as well as hurdles to development and scaling.

The bill also reinstates the National Quantum Advisory Committee, a provision included in the original NQIA as well as in the Senate version of the reauthorization. It also supports the creation of international and private sector partnerships.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology would be tasked to help set standards for new QIST technologies under the House text. Some of these standards are related to the deployment of post-quantum cryptography, and the bill also directs the NIST head to conduct an analysis that can promote the deployment of post-quantum cryptography standards –– a subject that is omitted from a draft QIST executive order that has yet to be formally debuted.

A markup of the House NQIA is scheduled for April 29.

The Senate introduced its version of the reauthorization early in the year, led by Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. The bill passed out of committee following an April 14 markup, where seven amendments were added to the text. It will now go to the Senate floor for a vote.

As with the Senate version, industry’s reaction primarily focuses on how the NQIA Reauthorization legislation will help quantum technology innovations make it from the lab to market.

Matt Cimaglia, the founder and managing partner of Quantum Coast Capital, told Nextgov/FCW that the focus needs to be on how QIST systems are applied and secured, as well as how institutions prepare for their impact.

“What stands out about the House’s approach to the National Quantum Initiative Act is the recognition that quantum technology is becoming part of our national infrastructure,” Cimaglia said. “If we approach this thoughtfully, quantum technology won’t be something we react to. It will be something we’re ready to use.”

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US needs to flesh out strategy to counter China’s robotics advances, lawmakers say

Edward Graham — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 10:08:00 -0400

Even as more advanced artificial intelligence capabilities drive greater progress in the field of robotics, lawmakers said on Tuesday that the U.S. still needs to develop a more effective strategy to counter China’s dominance in developing these technologies.

Although robots have been around for decades — primarily in manufacturing and to assist with other human-led tasks, such as medical procedures — these more powerful AI-infused machines can operate with greater autonomy. But even as the U.S. maintains its lead over China when it comes to global AI dominance, Congress and industry experts are concerned that America is ceding the robotics lead to Beijing.

During a House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology hearing, lawmakers and private sector representatives drew a contrast between fast-paced AI advances, and the development of actual, machine-based robots.

Michael Robbins, CEO of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, said, “we are entering an era of embodied AI — or physical AI — where AI is the brain and robotics is the body,” warning the panel that “today, America may still be winning the race to build the brains, but we are losing the race to build and deploy the bodies.”

Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich. — the subcommittee’s top Democrat — echoed his comments, also noting that “America is home to the best and brightest AI scientists who are developing the brains,” but that “when robots are made in the U.S., they're often assembled with Chinese parts.”

China has increasingly touted its robotics progress, most recently by holding a race in which one of its humanoid machines beat the human half-marathon world record time. Beijing’s military-civil fusion strategy also means that its private sector advances directly benefit its military ambitions, posing a national security threat to the U.S.

But China’s dominance in robotics also extends to the supply chains necessary for American companies to develop their own robots, Stevens noted. The country’s massive control of rare earth minerals and other components needed for developing robots and other advanced technologies, for instance, raises significant concerns about how best to decouple U.S. manufacturers from the Chinese market.

Jeff Burnstein, president of the A3 Association for Advancing Automation, said he wasn’t sure if banning Chinese-made robots — one potential way to drive domestic progress in the development of robotics — was a good idea because “right now, we do need those rare earth magnets here in the U.S., and I worry about, if we start a war over robotics, that we could lose some of those components that are vital to our goals.”

Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., who chairs the House panel, said the U.S. needs to adopt a national robotics strategy to counter China’s ambitions and also embolden domestic manufacturing and workforce adoption of robots. He noted that China and some U.S. allies, like South Korea and Japan, already have their own strategies, and added that, “there's such an obvious linkage between a robotics strategy and our national economy and national security.”

Obernolte, alongside Reps. Jennifer McClellan, D-Va., and Bob Latta, R-Ohio, introduced a measure in February seeking to establish a commission to evaluate and drive U.S. leadership in robotics.

Some agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, have already been experimenting with using robots, although the benefits actually provided by these machines have been mixed. Still, lawmakers and officials see a need to further expand uses of these technologies in both the public and private sectors, despite widespread adoption likely being a few years away.

Politico reported in December that Trump administration officials, including Commerce Department Secretary Howard Lutnick, were holding meetings with leaders from the robotics industry to discuss ways of turbocharging development of the advanced machines.

The White House’s AI Action Plan, released in July 2025, also included a section on supporting the development of next-generation manufacturing — a proposal that, Obernolte said, “notes the importance of this intersection between AI and robotics.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., the ranking member of the full House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said, however, that the single robotics-based recommendation in the action plan is not enough.

“While individual science agencies continue to make investments in robotics, there’s no coherent strategy for U.S. leadership,” Lofgren said, adding that “we can and still must lead in the field of robotics, but to achieve that goal, we need a concerted national effort to support innovation across the full robotics system.”

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AI capabilities are needed to counter drone threats, senator says

Edward Graham — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:37:00 -0400

With foreign adversaries increasingly relying on stockpiles of unmanned drones to strengthen their military capabilities, one senator argued Monday that the U.S. needs to quickly adopt new artificial intelligence capabilities to counter these growing threats.

Speaking on a panel hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said “we all have a better understanding of how warfare has changed” as a result of drone use in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the two nations have launched hundreds of thousands of drones at one another, while also using the systems to counter some of the attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in January that roughly 80% of the country’s attacks against Russian forces were carried out by drones.

Fischer — who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee — said the use of these drones “highlights for us the need to be able to defend with drones as well.”

With adversaries like China and Russia experimenting with giving drones more autonomy to attack targets without human involvement, the U.S. is similarly looking to advance its AI-infused weapons capabilities. All of this is occurring as Beijing and Washington, in particular, push to outcompete one another in the global AI arms race.

The ongoing U.S.-Israel war against Iran has also been punctuated by frequent drone attacks, with Tehran launching deadly strikes against U.S. forces and neighboring nations.

Greater AI adoption can help to counter these threats, Fischer said.

“When you see a swarm of drones coming in, AI can identify what maybe the pattern is there, and then allow our drones to identify that pattern and how they should respond to it,” she said.

Last year, the Pentagon launched the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, or DAWG, to quickly develop and deploy autonomous drones. President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, which was released earlier this month, requested $54.6 billion for the unit — a figure that would represent a significant increase to its previous $225 million budget.

Fischer said embracing AI-powered drones to counter other autonomous systems is “going to have to happen very, very quickly, and if we aren't ready for the future, we're in trouble.”

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Secret Service is embracing new solutions to combat malicious drones, director says

Edward Graham — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:04:00 -0400

The U.S. Secret Service is moving to embrace kinetic mitigation technologies to counter the threats posed by unmanned aerial systems — or drones — ahead of multiple upcoming large-scale events, the agency’s head said on Thursday.

During a budget hearing held by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Secret Service Director Sean Curran noted that the agency is preparing for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in a few months, America’s 250th birthday celebration in July and other high-profile meetings like the G20 Summit in December. He said, however, that 2028 “will be our busiest year on the calendar,” with the U.S. both hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as being in the midst of the next presidential campaign that year.

Curran warned that adversaries are increasingly looking to use drones and other new technologies to threaten U.S. leaders and other targets, which has necessitated that the agency enhance its own counter-drone abilities — particularly in preparation for these events.

“We’re also leading the way to detect, deter and defeat drone threats by exploring and deploying new technologies, such as kinetic solutions,” Curran said. “Our personnel are also thoroughly investigating drone incursions and pursuing criminal prosecutions.”

He said part of this effort includes thinking outside the box, as well as working more closely with federal agencies to mitigate the dangers posed by drones.

Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., said during the hearing that addressing the threat posed by drones is “one of the things that I’m greatly concerned about.”

Curran told him that the agency is “looking at kinetic solutions — something that we haven’t done before, and something that I’ve asked our technology department to lean into.”

Kinetic counter-drone technologies are used to physically disrupt or destroy unmanned aircraft. DHS noted in December 2025 that some of the solutions its Science and Technology Directorate evaluated include the use of satellite-jamming systems and direct-fire weapons to bring down malicious drones.

Curran added that the agency has also partnered with the Department of Defense to advance its counter-drone efforts, saying that he was traveling to Florida after the hearing adjourned “to see this system that we’ve moved into place in South Florida.”

Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach-based resort, is located in the southern part of the state.

The Secret Service, like other components of the Department of Homeland Security, has not received funding since the agency’s appropriations lapsed after Feb. 13. Curran said, however, that the ongoing shutdown has so far had a minor impact on the agency’s technology efforts.

“There are some supply chain issues with getting some of the equipment up to speed, but I will tell you that we are leading the way right now,” he said. “We’re spending just over $100 million over the past year and a half to get our technology up-to-date.”

President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, which was released earlier this month, also seeks “$100 million for protective counter-measures, including areas like counter-[unmanned aerial systems],” Curran noted.

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Senate committee approves quantum reauthorization bill with 7 amendments

Alexandra Kelley — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:04:00 -0400

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the reauthorization of the National Quantum Initiative Act on Tuesday, including a slew of amendments to the bill addressing the acceleration of near-term technological applications, post-quantum cryptography guidance and more.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., noted during the markup that her three bills — the Advancing Quantum Manufacturing Act, the Quantum Sandbox for Near-Term Application Act, and the National Quantum Cybersecurity Migration Strategy Act — all made it into the NQIA Reauthorization as amendments.

The first aims to improve coordination between the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, as well as establish a Manufacturing USA institute for quantum manufacturing that can determine the capabilities necessary to support quantum development and offer financial assistance.

The second measure looks to “establish a public-private partnership for near-term quantum application development and acceleration.”

The final proposal seeks to help prepare the federal government for the cybersecurity threats posed by advancing quantum capabilities, requiring the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to coordinate development of a national strategy.

“The National Quantum Initiative has really been a cornerstone of the work that is being done at some of the national labs like Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee … as we look at how we revolutionize national security, how we look at innovations in medicine and of course every sector of our nation’s economy,” Blackburn said during Tuesday's markup.

Four other amendments were also passed and included in the bill text.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., added two amendments: One looks to provide support for quantum testbeds that can hasten quantum information science and technology prototypes and scale-up for industry partners, and the other seeks to clarify the National Science Foundation’s program to improve and expand access to quantum research resources.

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., also introduced an amendment to the NQIA Reauthorization that looks to establish a channel of consultation between Multidisciplinary Centers for Quantum Research and Education –– entities created by the first iteration of the NQIA –– and regional technology and innovation hubs created by the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980.

Under Hickenlooper's proposal, the National Science Foundation and the Secretary of Commerce would be tasked with coordinating research and development activities between the centers and hubs, with a focus on quantum information sciences, engineering and technology.

The final amendment from Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., also seeks to address the research domains of the Multidisciplinary Centers for Quantum Research and Education. The amendment would expand research initiatives not just in QIST disciplines, but also in adjacent fields like materials science, fabrication science and physics.

Kim’s amendment would also direct the Multidisciplinary Centers to leverage existing infrastructure, namely data centers and communication networks, to support demonstrations and applications of quantum technologies and to work with industry partners.

The National Quantum Initiative Act was first passed in 2018, and expired in the fall of 2023. Lawmakers reintroduced the reauthorization of the bill in January 2026. Industry leaders were quick to throw their support behind the NQIA Reauthorization following Tuesday’s markup.

“We applaud the Senate Commerce Committee leadership for taking a step toward reauthorizing and expanding the National Quantum Initiative,” D-Wave SVP of Global Public Affairs and Government Relations Allison Schwartz said in a statement. “We are encouraged that the Committee included commercialization language and near-term quantum application development. These sandbox style programs are critical to demystifying the capabilities of quantum computing and determining how to address some of the nation’s most pressing optimization challenges.”

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., who led the reintroduction of the bill along with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., voiced support for the NQIA Reauthorization's progression.

“Quantum technologies promise to dramatically transform every industry and sector of our economy and revolutionize our technological capabilities,” Young said in a statement. “The National Quantum Initiative strengthens the research and development investments and builds a strong workforce which plays a critical role in safeguarding America’s economic and national security. This legislation, which reauthorizes the NQI, is critical to ensuring American leadership in quantum technology.”

Following the full committee vote, the bill will now advance to the Senate floor.

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State official to EU: Work with us on tech policy or fall behind a generation

Edward Graham — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:57:00 -0400

A top State Department official on Wednesday excoriated the European Union’s regulatory regime for disincentivizing innovative collaboration with the United States and pressed for closer engagement between the allies to counter China’s technological ambitions.

During a conversation in Brussels hosted by The German Marshall Fund, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg said the bloc has become “a Caligulan bureaucracy that has, regulation-by-regulation, irrigated more and more power away from sovereign European states — not liberating the European economy, but strangulating it.”

Referencing the 2024 Draghi report on the EU’s competitiveness, which laid out recommendations for how the bloc can enhance its economic growth, Helberg said the findings showed that the union has largely missed out on driving major tech advances, such as in artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

“Europe is accruing a lag that will not be reversible in years,” he said. “It will take a generation to undo. That is not a policy disagreement; that is a civilizational emergency. And yet, there is a curious quietude around it.”

Helberg also criticized recent EU laws that have penalized U.S. technology companies, which he said sends the message that the bloc is hostile to foreign investment. This included directing particular scorn at the Digital Markets Act, which first went into effect in 2022 with the goal of promoting fair competition in the online marketplace.

Helberg said the fines imposed on U.S. firms under the law — which have resulted in millions of dollars in penalties for tech giants like Apple and Meta — are ultimately more costly to the EU, since they encourage companies to turn elsewhere for investment and development. He called the Digital Markets Act "the biggest point of friction" in the relationship between the bloc and the U.S.

“We're not willing to be politely silent, because we are not politely invested,” he said of the Trump administration’s approach to engaging with the EU.

Helberg, who was in Brussels as part of a tour of European allies, is also one of the chief architects of State’s Pax Silica initiative. The effort looks to enhance U.S. and allied nations’ access to artificial intelligence and semiconductor technologies by partnering to promote more secure supply chains.

In a March 30 X post, Helberg wrote: “Pax Silica is knitting together the trusted network the Al race requires. Europe belongs in that network. The question is whether Brussels will let it show up.”

His speech on Thursday served as another call for the EU to join the initiative. Greece and Sweden, both members of the bloc, have separately joined Pax Silica.

Given China’s export controls on rare earth minerals, Helberg said, “I do think that there's a lot of appetite to work together [with the EU] on economic security issues.” He added that Pax Silica is a way for the U.S. and its allies to counter China’s tech ambitions, while also promoting a more streamlined regulatory regime.

More effective competition with Beijing, he said, includes a greater focus on logistics, infrastructure and mineral processing when developing emerging technologies. Helberg said the policy-focused components of the initiative include “developing baseline definitions for sensitive technology and critical infrastructure, as well as defining a pro-innovation agenda on AI.”

While the U.S. and EU are discussing the Digital Markets Act as part of continuing trade negotiations between the two powers, Helberg said he’s hopeful that similar ongoing conversations about economic security will also “ultimately culminate in more European countries joining the Pax Silica initiative.”

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Citizen Science Month 2026 is about more than just stargazing

John Breeden II — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:18:00 -0400

April has always felt like a favorite time of year for people who like science, civic life and the idea that ordinary citizens can still make a real contribution to public institutions. That feeling carries a little extra weight in 2026. This year’s Citizen Science Month is built around a goal of 2.5 million “Acts of Science,” tying the annual event to America’s 250th birthday through a simple but powerful idea: lots of small contributions can add up to something really meaningful.

The annual celebration has a broad reach. SciStarter remains one of the main organizing hubs, with project listings, event pages and participation guides covering all kinds of scientific and civic work. But what has always made Citizen Science Month especially interesting to me is how often it opens a door into real government missions.

In the United States, that can mean helping NASA classify data streaming in from one of Jupiter’s moons, assisting agencies that monitor weather and wildlife, or contributing to the federal government’s effort to preserve and open up the historical record. The federal participation page at USA.gov this year points people toward some amazing opportunities at the Library of Congress, NASA, the National Archives, NOAA and others, which makes the public-service dimension unusually visible this year, and also a lot of fun.

As in previous years, NASA remains one of the biggest supporters of citizen science. Its citizen science page currently lists 42 NASA science projects that are open to everyone, and it describes those efforts as a way for volunteers and amateurs to help make important discoveries while searching for life elsewhere, protecting Earth and improving life in space. The project list ranges from tracking precipitation and auroras to classifying galaxies and hunting for planets outside our solar system.

One of the most interesting projects from NASA this year involves downloading and processing images coming from a satellite-based camera orbiting Juno, one of Jupiter’s moons. And in addition to that, citizen scientists are also encouraged to set up their own telescopes and take pictures of the moon to add to the scientific study of that potentially important celestial body.

I try to participate in citizen science month every year, and many of the NASA space projects are really interesting. But the project that caught my attention this time came from a very different part of the federal government. Instead of looking up into space, I chose to gaze into the past this year. I did that via the Library of Congress crowdsourcing site. Their key effort this year is called the By the People project, which invites volunteers to transcribe and review handwritten, historically significant, documents so that they become easier to search, read and use online. There is something strangely satisfying about looking at a yellowing old page with fading script and realizing that a few minutes of patience can help make it accessible to researchers, students and curious readers far in the future.

The Library describes the effort as a virtual volunteer program, and the current campaigns feature many interesting Americans including Hannah Arendt, Clara Barton, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft others from American history. The project that I zeroed in on was designed to help preserve the correspondence of President James A. Garfield, who only served for six months before an assassin’s bullet, and subsequent poor medical care, took his life. None of the documents I worked on were earth-shattering. One was about a meeting regarding musical education. But helping to transcribe Garfield’s letters and writings let me honor both his sacrifice and short life of government service.

That kind of work also fits the spirit of this year’s citizen science efforts especially well. As the country approaches its 250th anniversary, some of the most compelling ways to participate in Citizen Science Month are not only about stars, weather or wildlife. They are also about helping federal institutions preserve and highlight the documentary record of our nation.

The National Archives offers a similar invitation through its Citizen Archivist missions. Among them is a project focused on Revolutionary War pension files, with the Archives noting that the stories of more than 80,000 men and women who lived through the American Revolution are waiting to be told. That is a reminder that public participation in government does not always mean fieldwork or sensors. Sometimes it means making the past easier to find, search and understand.

Other agencies show how wide the field has become. NASA’s projects remain rooted in scientific discovery. NOAA and other environmental agencies continue to offer volunteer and observation opportunities connected to weather, water and wildlife. The larger point is that Citizen Science Month has evolved into something broader than a single discipline or a single type of activity. It has become one of the clearest annual reminders that the public can still contribute directly to federal work in ways that are concrete, measurable and surprisingly varied.

That may be the most encouraging thing about Citizen Science Month in 2026. It offers a practical reminder that people can still make meaningful contributions to public institutions and federal missions. Sometimes that means classifying galaxies for NASA. And sometimes it means transcribing handwritten pages written in flowery script for the Library of Congress or the National Archives. Either way, the result is the same: a little more knowledge, a little more access and a little more proof that public service is not always something exclusively done by public servants.

John Breeden II is an award-winning journalist and reviewer with over 20 years of experience covering technology. He is the CEO of the Tech Writers Bureau, a group that creates technological thought leadership content for organizations of all sizes. Twitter: @LabGuys

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IBM unveils new hybrid quantum computing architecture

Alexandra Kelley — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0400

IBM is betting on hybrid systems being the future of near-term quantum computing, introducing a new computing architecture that uses both classical and quantum-specific technology to apply the benefits of quantum-based capabilities to current problems.

Announced on Thursday, the new architecture combines quantum hardware with leading classical processing and graphics processing units — along with larger infrastructure like high-speed networks and shared digital storage — to leverage the promised benefits of quantum advantage to modern problems.

Images shared with Nextgov/FCW depict the new architecture as being underpinned by the combination of classical CPUs and GPUs that work alongside IBM’s quantum compute systems, such as its recent large-scale processors, Starling and Heron. It connects to a quantum management resource interface that sits below classical and quantum programming software models, which all receive information from applications and classical and quantum programming libraries.

Some entities are already making use of IBM’s new architecture, including Cleveland Clinic researchers simulating digital models of protein molecules and IBM and RIKEN scientists simulating iron-sulfur clusters.

“Today’s quantum processors are beginning to tackle the hardest parts of scientific problems — those governed by quantum mechanics in chemistry,” Jay Gambetta, director of IBM Research and an IBM fellow, said in a press release. “The future lies in quantum-centric supercomputing, where quantum processors work together with classical high-performance computing to solve problems that were previously out of reach. IBM is building the technology and systems that brings this future of computing into reality today.”

Hybrid computing architectures have emerged as a way to bring quantum-inspired computing to market, as fault-tolerant quantum computers still need to be successfully developed. IBM joins Microsoft and NVIDIA as companies launching various hardware, middleware and software solutions aimed at incorporating into a tech stack that can bring the benefits of quantum computing to existing and reliable classical infrastructures.

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NASA seeks extension of SEWP V to Sept. 30

Nick Wakeman — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:25:22 -0400

Faced with several bid protests and an extremely large number of proposals, NASA is asking for authorization to extend SEWP V for a few more months until the end of the fiscal year.

SEWP V is currently slated to expire on April 30, but NASA has not completed evaluating proposals for SEWP VI.

The agency therefore wants to extend the current contract to Sept. 30. SEWP is one of the market’s largest IT product and services contracts. The next version will have a $60 billion ceiling.

“Additional time is needed to make selection and award,” NASA posted on the SEWP website.

NASA does not mention the protests in its announcement, but there are nine active challenges at the Government Accountability Office from companies whose proposals were rejected during phase one of the evaluation process.

GAO's deadlines to rule on the protests fall in late May and early June, well past the April 30 end date for SEWP V. NASA said it wants SEWP VI to begin the day after SEWP V ends, so there is no disruption in the program.

By extending the end of SEWP V to Sept. 30, the agency should have enough time to get through the remaining evaluations as well as resolve the protests.

That will also leave the agency a few weeks to plan a going-away party for Joanne Woytek, the long-time SEWP program manager. Woytek announced Tuesday that she will leave NASA on Oct. 17.

She has led the program since 1999 and is considered the chief architect of its success.

Woytek has said she is not retiring, but will take her skills and experience and apply them to a new opportunity.

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VA’s early uses of robots have shown mixed success, but excitement remains

Edward Graham — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 13:28:00 -0400

LAS VEGAS — It may sound like science fiction, but robots are beginning to play a role in the delivery of healthcare services across the U.S.

Within the Department of Veterans Affairs’ network of medical facilities, clinicians and providers have started to use these technologies to automate some of their daily tasks. Although the actual benefits provided by these robots have been mixed, frontline providers and others across VA’s medical system have reportedly been supportive of further adoption of these assistive tools.

During a Monday session at the HIMSS conference in Las Vegas, Beth Ripley — acting chief innovation officer in VA’s Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning — said the conventional thinking about using robots is that they tackle “the three Ds”: jobs that are dull, dirty or dangerous. All of those areas, she noted, are present in hospital settings, with robots also providing an opportunity to address other problems, like chronic understaffing.

“So we have an administration priority — and all of you probably have the same — which is that we would love to have our staff working the top of their license, doing what they need to do, what they're trained to do, not schlepping things around,” Ripley said. “And what we realized when we started talking to people in VA is that a lot of workforce shortages were leading to people that shouldn't be doing these kind of simple tasks that we have.”

To better understand current uses of robots across its network, Ripley said VA undertook “a data call” of its medical facilities. Of the 90 facilities that responded to the request, 65 of them reported local uses of the advanced tech.

In total, Ripley said these sites reported 121 deployed uses of robots. Of those, 37 uses were delivery robots — which transport things such as medical supplies and in-patient veteran meals — while 35 were used for pharmaceutical mixing and packaging and another 31 were used for facility cleaning services.

Among the rarer applications, 14 were listed as “other,” two were for rehabilitation and care and two were for veteran medical interaction and facility navigation.

These deployed robots share more in common with the Roomba robotic vacuum than more advanced technologies, but early adoption shows that more work still needs to be done to hone their capabilities.

Follow-up visits by VA personnel to a subset of the responding facilities identified mixed benefits from using robots, although there was strong excitement from hospital staff about the potential these technologies have to offer.

In one instance, Ripley said personnel followed a robot for 96 minutes “to do something they can walk in three minutes.” In other cases, she said “they were working well,” although she also added that “a lot of the robots were sitting in closets or are kind of dead in the hall somewhere.”

Ripley cited the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston as VA’s “most successful robot implementation across the country because [the site] was purpose-built for robots, which is fantastic,” although she said that hospitals do not have to be rebuilt to accommodate uses of the technologies.

One main takeaway from the Houston VA site, she noted, is that the facility has trained its staff “to be able to take care of the robots,” rather than having to rely on the original equipment manufacturers to come in and make any necessary mechanical repairs.

But issues identified at VA medical facilities — like hospital staff having to spend time chasing down wayward robots, or the tools not transporting medications where they are supposed to go — have highlighted the drawbacks of a broader reliance on these technologies at this time. Ripley said the department is aware of these challenges and is working to smooth out problems.

“So, our ideal state is that robots automate routine tasks, minimize error and allow staff to focus on patient interactions,” she said. “Our current state, as I said, is not quite there. There are serious gaps that we need to overcome, but we can get to those now.”

Despite some of these robots not being ready for primetime, Ripley said feedback from clinicians about using the technologies “was overwhelmingly positive.”

She said the department found that “people want to do robots,” with one effusive respondent telling VA personnel that “nurses need to do direct care; everything else should be robots.”

Ripley added that “a lot of them are saying: ‘Make it easier for us, figure out how to do it better.’”

Other surveys and multi-step interviews VA conducted with veterans, caregivers and hospital staff also found widespread interest in adopting robots for targeted uses moving forward. All three surveyed groups identified daily living and needs assistance-focused robots as their top use case for the tools.

Streamlined adoption of robots across VA’s network of more than 170 medical facilities, however, is still a ways off. Ripley noted that none of the sites that responded to the department’s data call had developed local policies or practices, procurement frameworks or working groups for the use of robots.

In response to an audience question from Nextgov/FCW about implementing a policy framework and requirements for broader adoption of robots across VA’s medical network, Ripley noted that the department is already working to bring experts and the broader VA community together to find safe ways of harnessing uses of advanced capabilities, such as through the creation of the proving ground and innovation incubator X_Labs at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System.

“The next thing that we started to do is build out playbooks and some — not to policy yet — but guidance for the field and what that looks like,” she added. “Another thing that we're working on right now is starting to think about larger contracting mechanisms, so that we're not leaving each VA alone to try to figure out what would work and what [would] not.”

Ripley said VA is also working to address questions around the deployment of robots and is also looking to industry for guidance. Some of the department’s criteria for prioritization of these tools includes whether the robots will restore or preserve veterans’ independence, if they relieve pain points for clinicians and caregivers and if there is a clinical validation or pathway to using the tech.

“Robots are a little in the future, but if we don't think about it now and start to set the policies, I think we will regret it,” Ripley said.

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The man who built the web wants to fix it

Camille Tuutti — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:47:00 -0400

Decades after inventing the web, Tim Berners-Lee is still defending it.

This time, he's not talking about browsers or bandwidth but about business models. Onstage in Barcelona at Talent Arena on March 3, Berners-Lee said many of today’s platforms are designed to maximize engagement and what drives engagement is not measured debate but outrage, fear and extreme content.

"When you put in the addictive algorithm, you do it deliberately," he said, pushing back on the idea that these systems are inevitable.

Berners-Lee conceived the web in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, to help scientists share information across institutions. The idea was simple. At CERN, knowledge moved through hallway conversations and coffee breaks.

"One of the things I wanted to do was to be able to replace the coffee place," he said.

The web scaled that exchange to the world. It was decentralized by design. Anyone could link to anything, and no central authority controlled it. In 1993, CERN made the core technology royalty free, clearing the way for global adoption. Competitors agreed on shared standards at the infrastructure layer, even as they fought for dominance.

Netscape and Microsoft were battling for browser dominance, but both knew agreeing on shared standards would make the web bigger for everyone.

"You've got these two forces and you move forward," he said.

Three decades later, Berners-Lee has no illusions about what followed.

Most of the web still works as intended. Open standards let browsers and websites communicate. Information moves across borders and innovation doesn’t require permission from a single gatekeeper.

“Most of the web, I'm very positive about,” he said. “There are some bits I'm disappointed in.”

Social networks turned into social media. Users turned into broadcasters. Platforms shifted from connecting small groups of friends to curating feeds for billions. The goal became keeping users on the platform as long as possible.

Developers and companies choose what to optimize for, Berners-Lee said. They can build systems that encourage healthy interaction and exposure to different perspectives or systems that reward compulsion. If an algorithm boosts harmful content because it drives clicks, responsibility doesn’t vanish into technical complexity. Systems are designed by people so they can be redesigned.

That belief drives his current work. Through a project called Solid, Berners-Lee is separating personal data from platforms. Today, most user data lives in corporate clouds run by businesses. People may technically own their data, but it sits inside company-controlled systems.

In Solid, personal data sits in individual online stores. Apps ask for access to specific information and users can grant or revoke that access at any time.

Berners-Lee is already building on that model. Charlie is an AI assistant that pulls from a user’s Solid data store, not a corporate database. A general AI system starts blind, trained on the open web and knowing nothing specific about you. Charlie has permission to use your data. Ask what running shoes to buy and it knows you are training for a half marathon, how many miles you run each week and whether you train on roads or trails.

"Claude doesn't understand anything about you, but Charlie does," Berners-Lee said.

Some governments, including the Flemish government in Belgium, are testing similar approaches that give citizens controlled digital storage environments for public services. He sees that as proof the web’s architecture can still evolve.

The web was designed, which means it can be redesigned, Berners-Lee said. That work belongs to the developers, product teams and founders building what comes next. He left the crowd with a clear directive:

"We should imagine a better world,” he said. “Imagine apps which are collaborative, which are creative, which are compassionate. Imagine this world — and do whatever you can to get towards that world."

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Robotics ethicist calls for stronger US guardrails as automation accelerates

Camille Tuutti — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 13:00:00 -0500

Robots are moving into warehouses and factories faster than lawmakers are updating federal rules, a mismatch one technology ethics expert said could determine the future of work more than the machines themselves.

Speaking March 3 at Talent Arena in Barcelona, Kate Darling, research lead for robotics, ethics and society at the Robotics and AI Institute, said the trajectory of automation in the U.S. will depend less on what robots can do and more on what policymakers allow companies to do with them.

“Companies aren’t rewarded for making decisions that support people or social goods,” she said. “Companies are rewarded for profit. They’re rewarded for being first to market.”

When robotics cuts labor costs or increases output, deployment becomes a business decision. Whether displaced workers are retrained or supported elsewhere depends on public policy. Darling was blunt about where the U.S. stands.

“We don’t currently have that, in the U.S. at least, or at least not to the extent that we need for the transformation that’s coming,” she said.

Darling, who spent 14 years at the MIT Media Lab, also rejected the idea that regulation slows innovation. Governance, she said, directs innovation rather than stops it.

“I think what it does is drive innovation in a direction that is more supportive of people instead of in the direction that I fear we’re currently going,” she said.

Too often, the robotics debate focuses on technical capability. Darling said that misses the larger point. Automation doesn’t unfold on its own. It reflects economic and political choices.

Ethics boards haven’t fixed the problem, she added. Companies follow their advice when it doesn’t conflict with profit and ignore it when it does. Her alternative is to embed social scientists inside engineering teams from the start, as the Toyota Research Institute does, so ethics and social impact are built into product design rather than added later.

On accountability, she was equally blunt.

When something goes wrong in a human-machine system, the human operator often takes the blame, even when design, policy or management decisions set the failure in motion. Citing researcher Madeleine Clare Elish, Darling pointed to the concept of the moral crumple zone, where responsibility collapses onto the person closest to the machine instead of being distributed across the system behind it.

She referenced a fatal Uber self-driving crash in Arizona as an example, where the safety driver absorbed much of the blame while broader organizational failures received less scrutiny.

“We need to hold people and organizations accountable and not the machines themselves,” she said.

For Darling, the real question isn’t whether robotics will expand. It will. The question is whether U.S. policy keeps pace. She described Europe’s regulatory push as an experiment other countries are watching and argued the U.S. needs stronger guardrails.

“We need to vote for politicians who care about people and workers,” she said. “We need governance and regulation that supports workers.”

When pressed on what individuals can do, she was even more direct.

“Get involved in politics,” she said. “Politics is very important. And vote for people who support humans and human work and human flourishing.”

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Energy announces $352M in funding for frontier science

Alexandra Kelley — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:03:00 -0500

The Department of Energy unveiled a new $352 million funding opportunity for frontier research centers to accelerate emerging energy technologies and systems that will power the U.S. technology landscape.

Announced on Tuesday, the new funding for Energy Frontier Research Centers follows the Trump administration’s May 2025 executive order instructing agencies to prioritize “Gold Standard Science” and is available for U.S. colleges and universities, researchers based in the national laboratory apparatus and private sector companies.

The goal is to address fundamental research challenges in materials sciences, chemistry, geosciences and biosciences.

The focus on these fields serves as a means to advance breakthroughs in areas like critical minerals, quantum computing and advanced manufacturing that are slated to be crucial to new energy technologies and systems.

“For over 15 years, the EFRC program has provided a transformational research environment that has brought together the strengths of our National Laboratories and universities to accelerate discovery, develop innovative tools, and train the next generation of the American energy science workforce,” Energy Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil said in a press release. “The EFRCs will continue to play a vital role in bridging disciplines and institutions, advancing foundational science and strengthening America’s leadership to push forward scientific frontiers critical for new energy technologies.”

Program applicants are required to focus on research topics that address scientific challenges in one of the highlighted topics: unconventional computing paradigms; artificial intelligence and machine learning for materials and chemistry; complex chemical systems; critical minerals and materials; nuclear energy science; subsurface science; electrical energy storage; advanced manufacturing; microelectronics; and quantum systems and computing.

During the second Trump administration, Energy has been a key agency in helping the U.S. dominate in emerging technology and fundamental scientific research. Last fall, the agency unveiled a roadmap to advance fusion energy technologies to support the American energy grid.

During the announcement, Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged artificial intelligence as “a tremendous enabling technology” that is poised to further fundamental science in fusion energy research.

“It's hard to overstate the catalytic effect of artificial intelligence,” he said at the time.

Energy is also at the forefront of the Genesis Mission, a Trump administration program that will create the American Science and Security Platform to unify the U.S. national labs in leveraging high-performance computing to advance emerging technology research.

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It would take the Pentagon months to replace Anthropic’s AI tools: sources

Patrick Tucker — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 08:20:38 -0500

If the Pentagon carries out its threat to blacklist Anthropic’s Claude AI platform, it could be three months or even longer before the U.S. military regains access to such a powerful tool on its classified networks, according to multiple sources familiar with the fight between the Defense Department and the AI maker.

On Thursday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei reiterated his refusal to allow Claude to be used for mass surveillance of U.S. citizens or to guide fully autonomous weapons, rejecting Pentagon requests to make unfettered use of the model.

Claude is one of just two large generative-AI models that the Pentagon has made available on classified networks, and it is the only one that belongs to the cutting-edge group of frontier models. The Defense Department isn’t saying just how it uses such models. But Emil Michael, defense undersecretary for research and engineering, has suggested that their uses include intelligence (“to synthesize a lot more intelligence using a machine than a human analyst”) and warfighting (“How do you predict what might happen in the conflict, what things you might need in the conflict?”).

Earlier on Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said that DOD only seeks the ability to “use Anthropic's model for all lawful purposes,” adding that the idea that the Pentagon wants fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance is a false narrative “peddled by leftists in the media.”

But Amodei said those are the only two limits he insists on.

In “a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do,” he said in his statement.

Pentagon officials have threatened various reprisals should Anthropic insist on its limits, including invoking the Defense Production Act to use the company’s product without the company’s permission.

On Wednesday, a defense official told Defense One, “The Secretary will not hesitate to invoke the DPA if an agreement cannot be reached.”

Parnell’s post on Thursday made no mention of the DPA. The company, he said, has “until 5:01 PM ET on Friday to decide. Otherwise, we will terminate our partnership with Anthropic and deem them a supply chain risk for DOW.”

In his statement, Amodei responded quizzically. “They have threatened to remove us from their systems if we maintain these safeguards; they have also threatened to designate us a ‘supply chain risk’—a label reserved for US adversaries, never before applied to an American company—and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal. These latter two threats are inherently contradictory: one labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security.”

Easier said than done

If the Pentagon does designate the San Francisco-based AI startup as a supply-chain risk, it would touch off a lengthy and likely expensive series of protective measures, the people familiar said.

Operators would have to reconfigure data inputs that they are feeding into models, re-examine how to share data in real-time with the intelligence community which also uses Claude widely, and re-validate that replacement models were functioning as the military expected it to, they said.

In July, Anthropic received a $200 million contract to provide its frontier-model tools to the Pentagon, as did the other three U.S. makers of such products: OpenAI, Google, and xAI.

Department leaders have urged their people to use the new tools, though they have declined to say how publicly. And even the Pentagon doesn’t really know; it is reportedly asking various commands to describe how much they use Anthropic. (Michael, however, has described U.S. INDOPACOM as “probably one of the premier users.”)

So why is Claude the only one deployed on classified networks? One key reason, according to a defense official: Anthropic’s tools were the easiest to deploy on cloud networks powered by AWS, which contributes the largest chunk of the Pentagon’s Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability.

The two companies are especially close. AWS is the leading cloud-service provider to Anthropic, which trains its models using Amazon’s proprietary Trainium chips.

By contrast, Google runs Gemini on its own cloud and trains it on TPU v5p chips. xAI is partnered with Oracle and does most of its Grok training on NVIDIA H100 GPUs. OpenAI has a “primary” relationship with Microsoft Azure, though it recently announced a “strategic training” partnership with AWS.

None of these relationships are static. Anthropic trained its first models on NVIDIA chips. But as demand grew, the various frontier AI companies inked long-term strategic contracts that mean migrating from one environment to another would undo months of work.

The individuals said it could be twelve months or longer to replace the capability. However, a Defense Department official said that he expected additional frontier AI models to be widely available on the Pentagon’s GenAi.mil interface before summer.

AWS did not respond to requests for comment.

Breaking up for the wrong reasons

Michael has said that his objection to Anthropic’s stance is that it creates unpredictability. What if, he said last week, operators were using Claude during a mission, and “then the model itself learns what you're trying to do… and it stops working. That’s a risk I cannot take.”

But Anthropic executives counter that they must draw lines precisely because of AI’s unpredictability. They say there’s no way to guarantee that their models can perform safely in scenarios that involve lethal autonomy—at least not without meaningful human supervision—and they don’t believe the model is safe in situations that might involve AI for mass surveillance, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

And they agree with Michael’s contention that some of the Pentagon’s frontier models might perform better at various tasks than others.

The sources also said the conversations between the Pentagon and the company had been proceeding along more or less normal lines. Anthropic, they say, had been willing to make various accommodations. But the tone changed after the discussions became public.

On Tuesday, the company released a new version of its safety policies, which many saw as an abandonment of its core safety promise.

In the blog post announcing the change, the company said that it would be moving toward “nonbinding but publicly declared targets” for safety. “Rather than being hard commitments, these are public goals that we will openly grade our progress towards.”

Lawmakers are dipping a toe into the debate. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called the fight “another indication that the Department of Defense seeks to completely ignore AI governance–something the Administration’s own Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy have described as fundamental enablers of effective AI usage,” in a statement. He called the episode further evidence of “the need for Congress to enact strong, binding AI governance mechanisms for national security contexts.”

The Pentagon has in the past placed policy limits on the use of autonomous weapons, but Congress has passed no legislative limits.

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When every second counts: government tech helps first responders’ lifesaving missions

John Breeden II — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:29:00 -0500

When disaster strikes, first responders are expected to sprint into chaos while everyone else runs away. Whether it’s a collapsed building after an earthquake or a smoke-filled office during an active shooter event, the ability to see around corners and know what’s happening inside a dangerous environment can be the difference between life and death.

Emerging technology from government labs is beginning to give emergency crews advantages they didn’t have even a decade ago. Two recent efforts from the National Institute of Standards and Technology highlight how improved situational awareness and indoor location tracking are becoming part of the first responder’s toolkit.

Drones have started to earn their place in public safety by supporting missions such as search and rescue and surveillance. In the military, they are even becoming decisive frontline weapons, demonstrating their versatility. However, most of those kinds of activities take place outside where a drone can really spread its wings or its propellers, and also receive strong guidance signals to help it navigate. But once the danger moves indoors, drones and the technologies that help drive them, like GPS, can’t easily follow.

One major challenge responders face is simply understanding any indoor environment they’re entering. In many disaster scenarios, sending a human into a building full of fallen debris, compromised structural supports and unpredictable hazards is a high-risk proposition. A better option is to send in a drone first, but only if the drone can reliably navigate complicated interiors and relay useful information back to the team in real time.

That’s the premise behind a prize challenge NIST sponsored to push drone makers to improve 3D indoor mapping. In many of these situations, drones equipped with cameras or sensors could capture video, identify hazards and map the inside of the building for incident commanders. But flying a drone indoors is harder than flying one outside: GPS doesn’t work well in many large buildings, drones have to navigate narrow hallways and stairs and even their own propeller turbulence can disrupt stability. The competition asked participants to build systems that could create high-quality 3D images and maps while flying a complex course and then deliver that data in ways that first responders could use during a real operation.

“This mapping technology can allow first responders to know where there might be potential victims,” said Stephanie Layman of NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research Division. “These maps can help direct responders more quickly to exactly where to send their people, as well as map a path to help get them back out safely. It’s about saving lives — including first responders’ lives.”

Work like this is about more than building better hardware. It’s about usable intelligence in life-or-death situations. Detailed 3D maps can show where obstacles or victims are located before a human team even enters the structure, and they give commanders a chance to make informed decisions based on real spatial data rather than guesswork.

The second challenge for first responders is not what’s inside the building, but who is inside and where exactly those people are. GPS has solved outdoor navigation for decades, but it collapses almost entirely indoors, where walls and ceilings block satellite signals. That becomes a serious problem when an incident commander loses contact with a firefighter who hasn’t checked in on a radio or when teams need to coordinate movements inside a multi-story building.

To address this, NIST and partners have been working on what they call the First Responder Smart Tracking (FRST) Challenge. The goal is to create wearable devices and localization systems that can track first responders through complex interior spaces using an indoor “localization test bed” to verify accuracy. The notion is simple: first responders need an affordable, rugged way to know exactly where their teammates are, not just outside, but through corridors, stairwells and maze-like interiors where time and precision matter.

GPS doesn’t solve this problem indoors because its satellite signals are too weak once they penetrate roofs and walls. Building materials like concrete, steel and glass, especially in high-rise structures, can disrupt or totally block the signals, leaving responders effectively blind. The challenge encourages innovation in solutions that are easy for first responders to carry and track as they move through a building. The devices need to constantly communicate their location back to base.

It’s easy to take location and mapping for granted when you’re walking down a familiar hallway with your phone guiding you. But in a crisis environment, first responders can end up in spaces where every turn, every obstacle and every second counts. The ability to pinpoint locations indoors, in near real time, can reduce confusion, speed rescue efforts and ultimately save lives.

Another development that promises to accelerate improvements in first responder tech is the recently opened Public Safety Immersive Test Center in Colorado. Built by NIST’s Communications Technology Laboratory, the facility is a dedicated space where emergency technology can be evaluated in realistic rescue and response scenarios.

The immersive test center allows engineers, first responders and researchers to simulate complex disaster environments, including collapsing structures, smoke-filled interiors and multi-agency response situations in a controlled, repeatable setting. By combining physical props with advanced sensor systems and instrumentation, the center makes it possible to observe how technologies such as drone mapping, indoor localization devices and communication systems perform under stress.

For example, testing might involve flying a drone through a mock collapsed building while simultaneously tracking rescue personnel wearing indoor position trackers. Researchers can then analyze how well mapping, location and communications systems work together, where they fail and what improvements are needed. That type of holistic evaluation is hard to achieve with field tests alone because real emergencies are unpredictable and difficult to reproduce.

According to NIST officials, the immersive test center gives first responder agencies and technology developers a shared environment where they can study new designs, validate performance and better understand how various tools behave in lifelike conditions. As indoor tracking and drone mapping technologies mature, being able to assess them side by side in realistic conditions will help ensure they’re not only capable in isolation, but interoperable and reliable when multiple systems must work in concert during actual emergencies.

Built in a modular fashion that allows rapid configuration to mirror almost any environment, the new facility is both massive and impressive. There is even a virtual tour available for anyone who wants to explore the various labs and test environments.

All of these efforts reflect a broader trend in technology that government and industry have embraced: using data and connectivity to augment human capability, rather than replacing it. Drones don’t carry responders into harm’s way; they prepare the way. Wearable indoor tracking systems don’t make decisions for crews; they give commanders a clearer picture of where their teams are and what risks they face.

These innovations have practical implications beyond niche research projects. Urban search-and-rescue teams, fire departments responding to multi-story apartment fires, law enforcement clearing complex interiors and disaster response teams entering unstable structures all stand to benefit from technologies that help them understand their environment and locate potential hazards. In an era where every second matters and situational awareness can be clipped by uncertainty, these tools may eventually become as essential as radios and protective gear.

Government investment in challenge-driven innovation like this often flies under the radar compared with headline-grabbing advances in AI or space exploration. But for first responders facing the real world’s most unpredictable moments, tech that helps them navigate dangerous environments safely is not just useful. It’s lifesaving.

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Draft quantum order tasks many agencies with reinvigorating the tech’s development

Alexandra Kelley — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:56:00 -0500

The White House is currently developing a landmark executive order focused on quantum information sciences and technology, which is expected to establish a whole-of-government approach to bolstering the U.S. quantum ecosystem.

Detailed in a draft document obtained by Nextgov/FCW titled “Ushering In The Next Frontier Of Quantum Innovation,” the pending order tasks the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy with setting a vision to keep the U.S. at the forefront of innovation in quantum technologies. This includes policy actions like lowering commercial barriers, improving access to foreign markets, partnering with ally nations, scaling a quantum-ready infrastructure, strengthening supply chains and continuing fundamental scientific research.

In addition to OSTP’s director, secretaries at the departments of Energy, Defense and Commerce will also play major roles in executing the new executive order.

New policy initiatives are among the first action items dictated in the document.

Within 180 days of the signing of the executive order, the director of OSTP and the secretaries from Commerce, Energy, and Defense will start work with the directors of national intelligence and the National Science Foundation — along with feedback from the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittees on Quantum Information Science and the Economic and Security Implications of Quantum Science — to update the National Quantum Strategy.

The National Science and Technology Council’s Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science released a national strategic overview for the technology in 2018 that was intended to meet the rising development of quantum technologies and ensure U.S. leadership in the field.

30 days after the strategy is updated, relevant agencies and departments are required to report to the OSTP director and the director of the Office of Management and Budget on what steps they plan to take to ensure they are implementing policy objectives it outlines.

OSTP, ODNI, Commerce, Energy and the Pentagon will coordinate to ensure expertise in manufacturing infrastructure and other capabilities support the effort, looking for discoveries to inform national security, commercial, and government technological applications.

The order would also create a new national effort to achieve a quantum computer for scientific applications and discovery — or QCSAD — with at least one housed in a Department of Energy-run facility.

In getting the QCSAD up to scale, Energy is tasked with engaging private sector partners to expedite its delivery to the scientific community. Commerce will also develop a plan to continue investments into commercial quantum companies in a bid to “de-risk” their technologies. And the departments of Energy, Commerce and Defense will be required to form a Center of Excellence to develop the tools to assess the capabilities of quantum computing systems within 180 days of the order’s signing.

The executive order also prioritizes the advancement of quantum sensors and quantum networking, partially as a means to support a distributed network of quantum computing systems.

Leadership from Energy, Commerce, NSF and NASA are all asked to submit individual five-year roadmaps with their plans to expand quantum sensing and networking, with application areas of focus specific to the four individual agencies. Agencies are also asked to submit roadmaps for ways that they can use prize challenges, advanced market commitments and other methods to encourage the private sector in developing the components needed for quantum technologies.

At the 180-day mark, the OSTP director will reconstitute the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee, a provision originally included in the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act signed by Trump during his first administration, which expired in 2023. Lawmakers have since tried to reauthorize the act several times, supported by many private sector leaders, with the most recent version introduced by Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., in early 2026.

Following formation, the NQIAC will craft recommendations for stimulating development of quantum-enabling technologies domestically.

The final two sections are devoted to cultivating a strong domestic workforce and fortifying international partnerships. OSTP will engage with academic partners to expand educational and training opportunities, and NSF leadership will initiate a network of National QIST Education and Teaching Institutes.

The secretary of Labor will also participate, partnering with NSF to track statistics to measure the progress of U.S. quantum workforce development.

The order also makes trade a key focus for international quantum technology partnerships. Commerce, the International Trade Administration and the U.S. Trade Representative will identify and provide recommendations to address foreign trade barriers, discriminatory treatment and other policies hindering U.S. competitiveness.

Post-quantum cryptographic provisions — designed to ensure that important data is protected by encryption methods that can stymie the power of an eventual quantum computer — are notably absent in the draft document, which does not mention the Department of Homeland Security and its subagency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. CISA in particular has previously played a major role in advancing the need for post-quantum cryptographic migration as a means to further secure critical infrastructure.

The order does, however, focus on protective measures for QIST.

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is tasked with leading and expanding its Quantum information Science and Technology Counterintelligence Protection Team to improve response to cybersecurity threats arising with a cryptographically-relevant quantum computer. The DNI, working through the National Counterintelligence and Security Center will also help coordinate budgets and resource allocation to “enhance QIST protections.”

As more private sector companies invest in the development of quantum physics-powered technologies, the federal government has paid increasing attention to both harnessing its potential and mitigating possible threats.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

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Getting quantum tech from research to commercialization requires partnership, federal experts say

Alexandra Kelley — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 14:17:00 -0500

Better government and private sector coordination is needed to bridge the gap between quantum research and commercial applications, according to federal officials who spoke at a Thursday House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing.

Those experts testified that the application landscape of quantum technologies — particularly computing — is still in its early stages, with industry help needed to innovate past current fundamental technology challenges.

As private and public investment in quantum technology continues to grow, with an October 2025 McKinsey report estimating approximately $2 billion was invested globally in 2024, the expectation that there will be commercial applications that deliver a return on investment is growing, especially with the looming arrival of a fault-tolerant quantum computer expected around 2030.

James Kushmerick, the director of the Physical Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, testified that the government’s work with industry partners is a big piece of the commercialization puzzle.

“The real plan here is to kind of co-develop with industry,” Kushmerick said. “NIST and other government laboratories have the expertise and the technology. Industry is capable of commercializing it and pushing it out the door and creating that economic and quantum advantage and dominance that we're looking for.”

Kushmerick added that there are no major bureaucratic hindrances to engaging with private sector counterparts in these partnerships, but ongoing technological barriers remain. Despite those problems, Kushmerick confirmed that movement in the quantum computing field is “well along the way.”

“For quantum computing in particular, when we started the [National Quantum Initiative], we were in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum regime, where… [it's] just hard to do things,” Kushmerick said. “And now we have demonstrations of error correction in quantum systems. So we have made tremendous progress, and it still needs to advance, but I think we're all along the way.”

Still, in response to a question about artificial intelligence and its impact on quantum computers, Tanner Crowder, the quantum information science lead at the Department of Energy, said it is too early to tell.

“It's very difficult to see what the end goal or what the end applications will ultimately be,” Crowder said. “There are some very promising ones that we see in the future, like error correction, the search for quantum algorithms… but we see AI advancing quantum systems, and we also see quantum systems advancing AI.”

Crowder similarly noted that quantum technology applications for the electrical grid are “nascent” and need further exploration.

With user-ready applications still yet to be realized, several fundamentals of the quantum technology sector demand refinement, the experts testified. Error correction, or the ability for a quantum computer to process data via qubits while detecting and correcting errors, is a core component to viable quantum computing. Crowder noted that, in addition to error correction, scaling a quantum network is another critical step to practical quantum computing applications.

“Networking is … very important to us,” Crowder said. “We want to be able to connect systems together, and we need quantum networks to do that. It is impractical to send quantum information over classical networks, and so we need to continue to push that forefront and look to interconnect heterogeneous systems at the data scale level so that we can actually extract this information and compute upon it.”

Crowder said that the “most exciting” application of quantum networking now is distributing quantum data between different devices. Applications in the networking arena can bridge connectivity between remote quantum sensors, a network NIST is currently exploring. Reliable connection, supported by robust error correction methods, will allow the distribution of precise information.

Quantum sensing has been operational for years in various systems. For both Crowder and fellow witness Mark Clampin, the deputy associate administrator at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, improving existing sensing technologies is still a priority.

“The key area right now is quantum sensing because, in every area of measurement you look at, quantum sensing gives you that jumping capability that allows you to address new scientific problems or gives you the additional capabilities you need to really pursue the exploration agenda that we're following to the Moon and then on to Mars,” Clampin said.

In the private sector, the call for federal support to get quantum technologies ready for commercialization is loud. D-Wave, a quantum computing company specializing in annealing systems, says there is room in the pending National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act to strengthen language about commercial applications.

“This language is needed given that annealing quantum computing is already addressing some of the nation’s most complex challenges in logistics, emergency response, defense, and national security,” said D-Wave’s Global Public Affairs and Government Relations Leader Allison Schwartz in a statement.

Kushmerick echoed that request, saying he “would welcome” working with House staff to focus the bill text on accelerating research and development goals.

“Quantum computing, at its heart, is good for two things that we know of right now: that's code breaking and … making things,” Crowder said. “We want to be able to do chemical simulations. We want to be able to do high energy physics simulations and material science simulations. We can look past the scientific applications and look towards things like being able to create better fertilizers, better, more anti-corrosive materials that you could see transitioning to industry and making the American experience even better than it already is.”

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House science committee to host hearing on National Quantum Initiative Act

Alexandra Kelley — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:27:00 -0500

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee is planning to hold a hearing on Thursday, Jan. 22 to discuss the progress the National Quantum Initiative Act has made since it was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2018, according to three sources with knowledge of the plans.

House lawmakers are looking to hear from staff at NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Energy Department and the National Institute of Standards and Technology on the NQI and its role in future federal quantum information technology research and development work.

The witnesses include James Kushmerick, director of the Physical Measurement Laboratory at NIST; Saul Gonzalez, directorate head at NSF’s Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Mark Clampin, NASA Science Mission Directorate’s deputy associate administrator; and Tanner Crowder, the quantum information science lead at Energy.

The NQI initially allocated about $1.27 billion to federal quantum information technology R&D programming. Following its lapse in 2023, multiple bills have been introduced to increase federal investment in quantum technology and related sciences, and industry groups have voiced a need for renewed passage.

Last week, Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Todd Young, R-Ind., reintroduced the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act. Though it shares many features with the original, the reauthorization bill would allocate more funds — nearly $1.5 billion.

Advancing and preparing quantum sciences, particularly quantum computing, have become national policy priorities and are expected to pose a significant threat to current cryptographic security schemes used to protect sensitive data.

Trump 2.0 has continued to prioritize quantum technology and science policy. The administration is in the process of crafting an executive action that is expected to update federal agency timelines to complete their migrations to a post-quantum resilient cryptographic standard.

Nextgov/FCW reached out to NSF, NASA, NIST, the Energy Department and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee for comment.

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Lawmakers worry over new rule that will allow sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China

Edward Graham — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 17:57:00 -0500

House lawmakers are concerned that weakening export controls that restrict China’s access to advanced, U.S.-made semiconductor chips could diminish American leadership in artificial intelligence technologies — particularly if planned licensing reviews are not strictly enforced.

President Donald Trump announced in December that his administration would allow tech giant Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chips to China in exchange for the U.S. government receiving a 25% cut of the revenue. The H200 represents the company’s second-most powerful AI-chip.

On Tuesday, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security formally greenlit the move by announcing a revised export policy on sales of the H200 to China under new rules set for publication in the Federal Register on Thursday.

“In order to qualify, license applicants must demonstrate that exporting these products to China will not reduce global semiconductor production capacity currently available to U.S. customers; that the Chinese purchaser has adopted export compliance procedures, including customer screening; and that the product has undergone independent, third-party testing in the United States to verify its performance and security,” BIS said in a press release.

Although lawmakers and expert witnesses used a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday to counter fears that China is imminently prepared to dethrone the U.S. as the global leader in AI production, they all warned that expanded access to advanced American-made chips could supercharge Beijing’s AI and military ambitions.

Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., the chairman of the House panel, said during his opening remarks that “Nvidia has made such good chips that if they were sold freely to the [Chinese Communist Party], the CCP would likely overtake us in the AI arms race.”

“Make no mistake: If China buys a chip, they are buying it so they can take it from an American company, or they're buying it to put a Chinese company ahead of an American company, or they are buying it to make the Chinese military better than the United States military,” he added. “That is their goal. Instead of the U.S. military having the AI advantage, the Chinese military would have the AI advantage.”

Democrats have charged that Trump’s move to open up sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China is being used as a bargaining chip in ongoing trade negotiations with the adversarial nation and is prioritizing short-term economic gains over national security. Some Republicans have countered that the move, in part, helps control China’s AI ambitions by making the country reliant on a powerful — though second-tier — chip that it does not domestically produce. Nvidia’s fastest performing chip, called Blackwell, is still barred from being sold to Chinese firms.

GOP lawmakers, in particular, voiced support during the hearing for the BIS plan to review potential sales of the H200 chips to China, with the caveat that the agency does its due diligence when vetting purchasers.

Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., said he appreciated the rule but added that “one: the devil’s in the details; and two: rules and regulations are only as good as your willingness to enforce them — and that’s what we’re going to be watching for on this.”

Although Mast expressed deep concerns about China’s access to Nvidia’s advanced chips during the hearing, he responded several times to some of his Democratic colleagues’ remarks about BIS’ revised policy to highlight some of the requirements and conditions that must be met before a license is granted. He noted, for instance, that the final rule states that “no chips would be approved if there is a military end user, and there are very specific controls in it to ensure no remote access by a number of end users as well.”

But New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the panel, called the new policy a strategic mistake that degrades national security. He noted that, just last month, the Justice Department announced that it broke up a major AI chip smuggling network that exported or attempted to export at least $160 million worth of export- controlled Nvidia H100 and H200 chips to China.

“The president has said he will not approve H200 licenses for bad actors in China. While this does not allay concerns about smuggling and diversions, I am also skeptical that the administration will pick the right customers from the start,” Meeks said.

Matt Pottinger, who served as deputy national security advisor during the first Trump administration and appeared before the committee as a witness, also warned that “selling Nvidia's H200 chips to China will supercharge Beijing's military modernization, enhancing capabilities in everything from nuclear weapons to cyber warfare, autonomous drones, biological warfare and intelligence and influence operations.”

Beijing has already moved to advance its military might through a Military-Civil Fusion Strategy, which is focused on breaking down barriers between the country’s commercial sector and Beijing’s military development. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., said the new policy’s requirement that Chinese customers cannot use the chips for military purposes “rings hollow” because of Beijing’s strategy.

Pottinger said the requirement “would be very, very difficult, if not impossible, to enforce.”

How much the newly revised policy will ultimately benefit Chinese companies or Beijing, however, remains unclear. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Chinese customs authorities told agents that Nvidia’s chips are not permitted into the nation, and that CCP officials also told tech companies not to purchase the chips unless it is absolutely necessary for them to do so.

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Quantum cameras could remake space-based intelligence

Patrick Tucker — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 13:00:00 -0500

Can quantum physics enable better, cheaper, faster satellite photos? In a month or two, a startup will test a “quantum camera” for space-based imaging. If it works, it could slash the cost of missile defenses and give smaller NATO allies and partners spy-satellite capabilities that were once exclusive to major powers.

Funded in part by NASA and DARPA, the Boston-based Diffraqtion is testing a radically different way to make images from photons.

You might think that the cameras on the world’s most expensive satellites are fundamentally different from what your grandfather used to take old movies. But whether using chemicals and paper or chargeable transistors on a circuit, the process of deriving images from the behavior of photons has changed little in more than a century. That is one reason why space-based image collection—especially at high resolution—is incredibly expensive.

It’s also why Johannes Galatsanos, Diffraqtion’s co-founder and CEO, uses the term “quantum camera” rather than “photography.”

“You basically have light coming through a lens; it hits a sensor, and then that sensor takes a JPEG, an image, and then you can view it… or you can run AI on top, right, and detect things,” Galatsanos said. “Whether in space with high-resolution digital cameras or old-fashioned pinhole cameras, that process hasn’t [changed].”

That traditional method limits what can effectively be photographed based on diffraction, the process by which light beams pass through an aperture. It’s also a reason why high-resolution imaging satellites, like the WorldView-3, are large and heavy: like a telescope, they are mostly glass lenses and empty space. This is a reason why launches cost an average of about $50 million per satellite, and why why only a few countries have access to high-resolution satellite imagery.

Quantum science opens the possibility of collecting images using sensors that don’t require the same dense, heavy components. One of Diffraqtion’s cameras is the size of a small suitcase, launchable for just half a million dollars..

That just might be the key to shooting down highly maneuverable hypersonic missiles, as envisioned by the White House’s Golden Dome effort. The method proposed by Diffraqtion might lower the cost of the imaging systems on space-based interceptors, or even reduce the number needed to do the job.

“You have more area coverage, you can look at more targets at the same time, and so on,” said Galatsanos.

The idea effectively reverses the process of deriving an image from photonic data. But in quantum science, the simple act of observing quantum behaviors changes them. That’s useful for things like quantum encryption because it means that the message changes—obviously so—when intercepted. But it is also what makes quantum “photography” impossible.

Saikat Guha, another co-founder and the company’s chief science officer, has spent several years describing a new method for deriving information from quantum behaviors related to light. This method does not “observe” the photons in the traditional sense, nor does it act like a bed of capacitors or a sheet of film. Instead, it uses AI to model the optical field; so, rather than treating the scene as a blurry picture on a sensor, Guha’s method treats the arriving light itself as the ‘thing’ to be measured via quantum mathematics.

“What we do is [take] light as it comes to us. The visible light coming—we don't capture it, so there's no observation. But we transform the light, and at the end, when we have done the transformation, then we capture it. So we still retain the entire information of the photon as it traverses through the camera. And at the very, very end, we can observe the outcome of that processing,” said Galatsanos.

Galatsanos says that a wide constellation of quantum camera satellites won’t be possible before 2030. But if the hypothesis proves out next month, it could change all aspects of space satellite imaging.

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DHS launches office for drone and counter-drone technologies

Edward Graham — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 16:14:00 -0500

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday that it had created an agency office focused on deploying drones and countering nefarious uses of the technology, with millions of dollars already earmarked for protecting high-profile mass gatherings across the U.S. later this year.

The newly minted DHS Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems will “oversee strategic investments in drone and counter-drone technologies that can outpace evolving threats and tactics,” the agency said in a press release.

DHS said the office “has already begun its work” and is currently in the process of finalizing a $115 million investment in counter-drone tech.

The launch of the office comes as the Trump administration looks to secure the FIFA World Cup later this year, which will include more than 100 soccer matches spread across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. DHS officials also said the office will help protect celebrations surrounding the United States’ 250th anniversary this coming July 4.

“Drones represent the new frontier of American air superiority,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement, adding that the office “will help us continue to secure the border and cripple the cartels, protect our infrastructure, and keep Americans safe as they attend festivities and events during a historic year of America’s 250th birthday and FIFA 2026.”

The Trump administration late last year made some $500 million in grants available to states and localities to help fund their own anti-drone efforts, with $250 million expected to be allocated in fiscal year 2026 and the remaining amount in FY27.

The FY26 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last month, also extended DHS and the Justice Department’s counter-drone authorities until 2031. The powers, first granted in 2018, lapsed during last year’s government shutdown, but the renewal means that both agencies can continue to track, detect and disable drones that are deemed a threat to public safety.

Drones have been used for a host of nefarious purposes, from cartels looking to move drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border to people using them to deliver contraband to prisons. But other illegal or misguided uses of the technologies have also caused airport delays, crossed into sensitive areas or delayed sporting events.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it receives over 100 reports each month of drones operating near airports. Following passage of the FY26 NDAA in December, the National Football League also said it had detected roughly 2,300 drones around NFL stadiums in violation of the game day Temporary Flight Restrictions.

Since 2018, DHS said it has conducted over 1,500 missions to counter “illicit drone activities” across the country.

“The new Program Executive Office will be taking the threat of hostile drones head-on and innovating ways drones can keep us safe from other threats on the ground, equipping the Department with the technology and expertise we need to keep us Americans safe,” the agency said.

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Sens. Young, Cantwell introduce National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization

Alexandra Kelley — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:31:00 -0500

On Thursday, Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act to praise from industry leaders.

The National Quantum Initiative Act was initially signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term in office in 2018. It expired in 2023, and efforts to reauthorize the program have since fallen short of passage.

The new legislation would extend the original act’s funding timeline to expire in December 2034 and would authorize funding for multiple federal agencies to execute new quantum information science and technology research efforts.

That funding includes authorization of $85 million “for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030” for QIST research and consortium activities within the National Institute of Standards and Technology and an additional $25 million for QIST research at NASA, particularly focusing on quantum satellite communication and quantum sensing work.

NIST would also be instructed to stand up to three new quantum centers dedicated to advancing research in quantum sensing, measurement and engineering, with $18 million available annually from FY2026 to FY2030 for each center.

The NSF, in conjunction with leadership at NIST and the Energy Department — along with other federal agencies — would also host three new centers focused on quantum research and education; quantum workforce coordination and development; and quantum testbed activity.

Within the executive branch, the Office of Science and Technology Policy would helm an international quantum cooperation strategy to coordinate research and development activities with ally nations. The reauthorization also establishes prize challenges to pursue the development of quantum algorithms and applications through supporting public and private sector collaboration.

The provisions in the new version of the NQIA Reauthorization Act mirror the version introduced in late 2024, but industry experts have also underscored new specifics added to this bill, such as the inclusion of quantum annealing and gate-model computing systems within the definition of “quantum computing.”

“We thank Sens. Young and Cantwell for their leadership in introducing legislation to reauthorize and expand the NQI,” said D-Wave’s Global Public Affairs and Government Relations Leader Allison Schwartz. “As the bill advances through Congress, we hope to see language further expanded to support commercialization efforts, given that near-term applications using today’s technology can already address some of our nation’s most pressing optimization challenges in areas such as defense, national security, supply chain management, and emergency response.”

The reintroduction of the NQIA comes as quantum technology — particularly quantum computing — is expected to pose a significant threat to current cryptographic security schemes.

“Quantum computing is accelerating rapidly, and the time to act is now,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a statement. “Reauthorizing the NQI is essential to sustaining U.S. leadership in a technology that will transform industries, reshape scientific discovery, and unlock tremendous economic value. We urge Congress to quickly pass this measure and accelerate the research, workforce development, and public-private partnerships that will translate quantum innovation into real-world benefits for the American people.”

The White House has continued to prioritize quantum technology and science policy under Trump’s second term, and officials have been in the process of crafting an executive action that is expected to update federal agency timelines to complete their migrations to a post-quantum resilient cryptographic standard.

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Lawmakers expected to reintroduce quantum initiative authorization

Alexandra Kelley — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 19:08:00 -0500

The National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act has been drafted and is expected to be introduced this week after struggling to gain traction in previous years following the original National Quantum Initiative’s expiration in late 2023, two people familiar with the matter told Nextgov/FCW.

Reintroduced by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Todd Young, R-Ind., the new bill comes as quantum technology, particularly quantum computing, is expected to pose a significant threat to current cryptographic security schemes.

The NQIA was initially signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term in office in 2018. The reauthorization initially passed out of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee back in 2023, but stalled after.

In his second term, the Trump administration has continued to prioritize quantum technology and science policy, and has been in the process of crafting an executive action that is expected to update federal agency timelines to complete their migrations to a post-quantum resilient cryptographic standard.

In 2025, industry partners vocalized their support for the reauthorization of the NQIA, citing a need for continued funding for agencies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation to continue research programming into quantum technologies.

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