In the power circles where policy and technology meet, there always seems to be someone with his or her “hair on fire” about some issue or another, and it can be difficult to differentiate between a serious matter, hype and political theater. When it comes to the looming threat to existing cryptography methods, however, the consensus is clear: Quantum computers will make it possible to crack all current public key encryption. This means that unless people in positions of leadership take action, malicious actors will be able to steal government and industrial secrets, not to mention individuals’ private encrypted information.