President Donald Trump signed two executive orders in the Oval Office on June 22, 2026, directing federal agencies to accelerate quantum computing development and launch a nationwide migration to encryption systems designed to withstand the technology's code-breaking power. The orders mark the most aggressive federal push into quantum technology to date, backed by $2 billion the administration redirected from the CHIPS and Science Act just weeks earlier.
The signing ceremony drew a lineup that underscored the scale of the initiative: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, Alphabet President Ruth Porat, and Nobel Prize-winning physicist John Martinis all stood in the Oval Office as Trump put pen to paper.
The first order, titled "Ushering In The Next Frontier Of Quantum Innovation," updates the National Quantum Strategy and directs agencies, including the Departments of Energy and War, the Director of National Intelligence, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Office of Management and Budget, to align their programs with the new framework. It also launches a national effort to build a working quantum computer and deliver it to the Department of Energy, with instructions to make it available to the broader scientific community. Fox News reported that the order further directs NASA and other agencies to explore quantum-enabled sensors.
The second order tackles the flip side of quantum advancement, the threat it poses to existing digital security. Titled "Securing the Nation Against Advanced Cryptographic Attacks," it directs OMB and the national cyber director to lead an accelerated, nationwide migration to post-quantum cryptography, or PQC. The goal: ensure American data stays secure as quantum machines grow powerful enough to crack today's encryption standards.
Just The News reported that the cryptography order accelerates the government's transition to quantum-resistant encryption by 2031, four years faster than the 2035 deadline set under the Biden administration. The same outlet noted the first order calls for the quantum computer delivered to a national laboratory by 2028, setting a concrete benchmark for an industry where timelines often drift.
The distinction matters. Quantum computers can perform exponentially greater calculations at one time than even the most advanced supercomputers available today. That power could transform drug discovery, materials science, and logistics. It could also render current encryption, the backbone of banking, defense communications, and personal data, obsolete overnight.
Washington has talked about quantum risk for years. These orders put deadlines on the calendar.
The executive orders did not arrive in a vacuum. In late May, the administration directed $2 billion from the CHIPS and Science Act specifically toward quantum computing companies. Commerce Secretary Lutnick highlighted that commitment at the signing, pointing to a direct investment in an IBM fabrication facility, a machine capable of manufacturing quantum-capable chips on American soil.
"Besides investing in the companies we've also invested in fabs to build quantum for others so we can manufacture these quantum in America."
That comment from Lutnick frames the strategy as more than research funding. The administration is placing bets on domestic manufacturing capacity, aiming to ensure the hardware underpinning quantum breakthroughs is built here rather than imported. The decision to invest in an IBM fab, rather than simply funding research grants, signals a preference for tangible industrial output.
Trump's own remarks at the ceremony were characteristically blunt. The president said the United States is "already the leader by a lot" in quantum computing and pledged the country would now be "the leader by a lot more." Michael Kratsios, the administration's leading science and technology policy adviser, told Just The News that Trump had prioritized quantum as a key industry alongside AI and nuclear energy since early 2025.
That broader technology agenda has moved on multiple fronts. The president recently signed a separate executive order establishing voluntary federal review of advanced AI systems, part of a pattern of using executive authority to set the terms for emerging technologies before Congress can act.
Both executive orders include reporting requirements that go beyond aspirational language. The innovation order directs officials at the Department of Energy, the Department of War, the DNI, and the NSF to submit summaries to OMB detailing steps they have taken to align their processes, policies, and programs with the updated National Quantum Strategy. The cryptography order tasks OMB and the national cyber director with leading the PQC migration across the federal government.
The specific deadlines for those submissions and the migration timeline remain unclear from the executive orders as publicly described. What is clear is that the administration chose to name agencies individually rather than issue a blanket directive, a structure that creates identifiable accountability if progress stalls.
That approach stands in contrast to the way previous administrations handled quantum policy, where broad strategy documents often lacked enforcement teeth. Whether these orders produce faster results will depend on follow-through, but the framework is designed to make foot-dragging visible.
The president's willingness to use executive orders as a primary policy tool has drawn both praise and legal challenges across his second term. His birthright citizenship executive order is currently before the Supreme Court, and a range of other second-term directives face judicial review.
One detail in the Fox News coverage offered a quiet reminder of the stakes. A photo caption referenced a superconducting quantum computer chip photographed inside a facility at QuantumCtek Co. LTD in Hefei, China, in February 2023. Beijing has poured resources into quantum research for years, and the race between the two countries is not theoretical.
The administration's decision to redirect CHIPS Act money, legislation originally designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing, toward quantum computing suggests a recalibration of priorities. Semiconductors remain vital, but the White House appears to view quantum as the next contested frontier. Investing in domestic fabrication capacity, as Lutnick described, is a direct answer to the risk of supply-chain dependence on foreign manufacturers.
That concern about strategic competition extends beyond technology. The House recently passed a $70 billion immigration enforcement package locking in funding through the end of Trump's term, another example of the administration and its allies moving to secure long-term commitments rather than relying on temporary measures.
Several significant questions hang over the orders. Which quantum computing companies, beyond IBM, received portions of the $2 billion redirected from the CHIPS Act? What specific sensor applications is NASA exploring? And how will the administration enforce the PQC migration timeline across a federal bureaucracy that has historically resisted rapid technology transitions?
The full text of both executive orders has not been detailed in public reporting beyond the summaries and excerpts available. Enforcement mechanisms, penalty structures for noncompliance, and budget allocations beyond the $2 billion CHIPS Act redirection remain to be seen.
The presence of industry leaders like Krishna and Porat at the signing suggests the private sector sees real money and real opportunity in the administration's approach. Whether that translates into working quantum hardware at a national lab by 2028, the target reported by Just The News, will be the test that matters.
Courts continue to shape the boundaries of executive power across Trump's second-term agenda. Multiple Supreme Court cases this term could affect how far presidential directives can reach. But on quantum computing, the administration is betting that speed matters more than waiting for Congress to catch up to the science.
In a town that spends most of its energy arguing about yesterday's problems, it is worth noting when someone in power actually places a bet on tomorrow's. Whether Washington can execute is another question entirely.