This month I was honored to be invited to participate in a panel discussion at the Homeland Security Enterprise Forum in Washington. The theme of the event was “Security Through Partnership,” and throughout its three-day course it convened leaders from business, government, and academia to discuss how to, simply put, better protect American national security interests at home and abroad.

My panel was on quantum computing and the threats and opportunities it poses to security. I shared the stage with representatives from Amazon Web Services, MITRE Corporation and In-Q-Tel, the intelligence community’s investment arm.

The crux of our discussion centered on the idea that while there is tremendous opportunity in quantum – for everyone from pharmaceutical companies to energy providers to financial services firms – there is also tremendous risk. From a national security and homeland security perspective, it’s important to understand both the risks and benefits of quantum, as well as how to use it in order to not be caught flat-footed by our adversaries.

From cybersecurity to data integrity, to communications and sensing technology, we can expect huge quantum-enabled capability gains. We can also expect that bad actors and nation states alike are availing themselves of these new capabilities. Look no further than China’s “collect now, decrypt later” approach.

It’s therefore imperative that national and homeland security professionals be as knowledgeable as possible about quantum, about emerging quantum technologies and how to use them – and defend against them – within their agencies.