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class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"stickybar\" class=\"stickybar stickybar--newsletter js-stickybar\" readability=\"0.82\"> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"25.452887537994\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"33.728155339806\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/post-quantum-state-department-transition-plans-outlive-leadership-cycles\/\"> <span>Government<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> Governments and businesses have a shared interest in seeing post-quantum encryption broadly adopted throughout society. <\/p>\n<p>  <br \/>\n<audio id=\"audio-player\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-tts-cdn.api.scpnewsgrp.com\/cyberscoop\/87849\/english.openai.mp3\"><\/audio> <\/p>\n<div readability=\"11\">\n<div>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>  <\/p>\n<p>0:00<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>  <\/p>\n<p> <span id=\"tts-tooltip\">Learn more.<\/span> <span> This feature uses an automated voice, which may result in occasional errors in pronunciation, tone, or sentiment. <\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership.jpg?resize=640%2C421&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg 6000w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=300,198 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=768,506 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=1024,674 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=1536,1012 1536w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=2048,1349 2048w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=600,395 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=255,168 255w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=512,337 512w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=1025,675 1025w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-2.jpg?resize=1280,843 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1025px) 100vw, 1025px\"><figcaption> The United States Department of State (DOS) seal logo is being displayed on a screen at the International Cybersecurity Forum 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 7, 2024, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by STR\/NurPhoto via Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"33.229286086503\"><body readability=\"67.400607902736\"><\/p>\n<p>A cybersecurity official at the State Department called for the public and private sector to more tightly coordinate plans to transition their systems, devices and data to quantum-resistant encryption algorithms.<\/p>\n<p>Gharun Lacy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Cyber and Technology Security Directorate at the Department of State, issued a challenge for cybersecurity defenders to view their own individual \u201cpost-quantum\u201d encryption plans as a small part in a greater collective project to make the entire digital ecosystem more resilient against longer-term threats like quantum-enabled cyberattacks.<\/p>\n<p>With adversaries like China able to target \u201centire ecosystems\u201d for digital compromise, Lacy argued for the industries and sectors being plundered to come together in shared interest and create strong and consistent protections across society. In that context, modernization is about more than upgrading your technology or encryption.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to defend holistically as an ecosystem,\u201d said Lacy while speaking at CyberTalks, presented by CyberScoop, in Washington D.C. Thursday. \u201cThe organization that goes by themselves in modernization will not succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The State Department is exploring the potential for predictive attack chain analysis, using historical telemetry and planning to predict \u201cwhere we\u2019re going to be in the future.\u201d Other countries are doing the same, he said, underscoring how challenges like data harvesting must be addressed for national security purposes.<\/p>\n<p>Modernization plans must do more than update technology to perform the same security functions more effectively. They should also reshape the threat surface while \u201cbreaking some of the tendencies that are predictable from our historical data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just about modernizing hardware, it\u2019s not just about implementing AI faster,\u201d said Lacy. \u201cIt\u2019s about injecting that little segment of randomness that means the adversary that\u2019s reading, 10, 20 years of our history cannot use that to deduce\u201d our plans.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. federal agencies and the private sector are <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cisa-post-quantum-cryptography-procurement-guide-expert-criticism\/\">working broadly<\/a> towards the goal of having most or all high-risk systems, data and devices transitioned to newer post-quantum algorithms <a href=\"https:\/\/bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2022\/05\/04\/national-security-memorandum-on-promoting-united-states-leadership-in-quantum-computing-while-mitigating-risks-to-vulnerable-cryptographic-systems\/\">by 2035<\/a>. This reflects the long-term nature of the threat, as no one can say for certain when a quantum computer capable of breaking some classical forms of encryption will arrive.<\/p>\n<p>But the Trump administration and private sector cybersecurity officials have been <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/trump-administration-quantum-computing-executive-action\/\">mulling<\/a> whether the risks around data harvesting and recent advances in quantum computing may merit faster timelines.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Lacy said the risk organizations face around data harvesting \u2013 or foreign nations collecting encrypted data today to break later with a quantum computer \u2014 will be \u201clike an accordion,\u201d presenting a threat that stretches across time. Individual organizations will need to do more than work with each other to execute their post quantum cryptographic plans. They will have to do it across generations, meaning \u201cwe cannot shift priority just because our leadership changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you look at long horizon priorities of a nation state actor like China, that means that your data and the risk it poses to you will now outlive leadership cycles,\u201d said Lacy.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"3.5758683729433\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"13\">\n<div class=\"author-card__avatar\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrap\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership-1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\" alt=\"Derek B. Johnson\"> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by Derek B. Johnson<\/h4>\n<p> Derek B. Johnson is a reporter at CyberScoop, where his beat includes cybersecurity, elections and the federal government. Prior to that, he has provided award-winning coverage of cybersecurity news across the public and private sectors for various publications since 2017. Derek has a bachelor\u2019s degree in print journalism from Hofstra University in New York and a master\u2019s degree in public policy from George Mason University in Virginia. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__tags-container\">\n<h4 class=\"single-article__tags-title\">In This Story<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<p> <\/html><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__ads js-single-article-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-5 ad--rightrail_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-4 ad--rightrail_2 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-3 ad--rightrail_3 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> 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{"id":8369,"date":"2026-02-19T14:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=87849"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:43:08","slug":"state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/state-dept-official-says-post-quantum-transition-plans-will-outlive-current-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"State Dept. official says post-quantum transition plans will outlive current leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"