Someone may already be copying your encrypted traffic. They cannot read it yet. Q-Day is when that could change.

Katie Arrington, Quantum Technical Evangelist at IonQ and former senior technology and cybersecurity leader at the Department of War, joins Dr. Tuboise Floyd for a plainspoken conversation about the decisions leaders must make before cryptographically relevant quantum computing arrives.

Katie has stood on both sides of the desk. She previously performed the duties of chief information officer for the Department of War and served as deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity, overseeing defense-wide cyber strategy, governance, and compliance. Today, she is helping explain the technology that could reshape the systems she once helped defend.

In this episode:

• What Q-Day means for public-key encryption
• Why “harvest now, decrypt later” creates risk before quantum computers can break encryption
• How organizations should approach post-quantum cryptography and cryptographic inventories
• Why leaders will have to decide what gets upgraded, rebuilt, or left behind
• How quantum sensing, timing, and networking could reshape modern conflict
• The difference between artificial intelligence and quantum computing
• How trapped-ion quantum computers work
• Why fidelity and fault tolerance matter
• Where humans belong in an AI- and quantum-enabled future
• What quantum and AI could mean for jobs and workforce development

The hardest question is not whether quantum is coming. It is who decides what must be protected first—and what evidence supports that decision.

About Katie Arrington

Katie Arrington is Quantum Technical Evangelist at IonQ. She previously performed the duties of chief information officer for the Department of War, advising the secretary on enterprise information management, cyber assurance, and emerging technology policy. She also served as deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity and as chief information security officer for acquisition and sustainment.

Follow IonQ: https://www.ionq.com

About The Briefing

The Briefing with Dr. Tuboise Floyd examines consequential technology decisions across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum technology, and emerging risk. Creative Director: Jeremy Jarvis.

Find the decision. Follow the evidence. Name who owns it.

Listen, watch, and follow the show: https://humansignal.io/thebriefing

Partner disclosure

This episode is underwritten by Founding Decision Assurance Partner MCGlobalTech.

MCGlobalTech built the CMMC Assured Enclave to help small and midsized defense contractors operate their cybersecurity and compliance obligations after the assessment. Learn more at https://cmmcassured.com

The views expressed by the guest are her own. Discussion of companies, markets, or securities is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.