# Federal Agencies Schedule Post-Quantum Migration

OpenAI’s recent mathematical results have renewed concern that AI could expose weaknesses in current or future encryption, adding urgency to federal post-quantum migration planning. Agencies are scheduled to transition key systems in stages from December 2030 through 2035, while contractors must meet NIST cryptographic standards by December 2030—about four years from now. Contractors should begin cryptographic inventories, implementation reviews, and crypto-agility planning now.

- Federal contractors must meet the stated NIST cryptographic standards by December 2030; agencies’ system transitions are scheduled to continue through 2035.
- Procurement and technical teams can use cryptographic inventories and implementation reviews to identify affected systems and plan the work needed to meet the contractor deadline.
- Crypto-agility planning can help organizations prepare systems to adopt updated cryptographic methods as federal migration proceeds.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Information Technology
**Topics:** Cybersecurity, Regulatory Compliance
**Published:** October 21, 2026

### Government Entities
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
- National Security Agency (NSA)
- White House

### Key Quotes
> You have to assume that intelligence agencies are vacuuming up your data now, and that's all the more true if you think that AI could potentially discover breaks for these systems within the next year or two.
> — Scott Aaronson, Chair of Computer Science

### Sources
- [Add ‘post-AI’ encryption to your to-do list - Defense One](https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2026/10/add-post-ai-encryption-your-do-list/416722) - Defense One