PQC Migration for Government Agencies and Defense Organizations
Government and defense organizations face the most urgent PQC migration timelines. CNSA 2.0 milestones are set. The January 2027 acquisition gate requires PQC compliance for new system procurement. NSM-10 directs agency-wide cryptographic inventory and migration planning. Classified systems have their own requirements and constraints.
This course covers PQC migration for government agencies, defense organizations, and the defense industrial base, including the regulatory requirements and the practical realities of government cryptographic infrastructure.
Course Outline
Module 1 Regulatory Requirements
CNSA 2.0 timeline and milestones. NSM-10 requirements for federal agencies. The January 2027 acquisition gate: what it requires and how to comply. DoD and IC-specific guidance. Allied nation requirements (UK, EU, Five Eyes).
Module 2 Government Cryptographic Infrastructure
NSA-approved algorithms and their PQC successors. FIPS 140-3 and the PQC validation timeline. PKI migration for government certificate hierarchies. Classified system considerations. Cross-domain solution implications.
Module 3 Defense Industrial Base Migration
Compliance requirements for defense contractors (CMMC, DFARS). Managing classified and unclassified migration in parallel. Supply chain cryptographic requirements for defense procurement. SP 800-208 signatures deployable today.
Module 4 Program Planning
Building a CNSA 2.0-compliant migration program. Agency-level versus department-level versus system-level planning. Budget justification within government appropriations cycles. Working with system integrators on PQC migration.
Prerequisites
None. Sector experience is helpful but not required. For a broader PQC foundation, consider starting with Post-Quantum Foundation.
Certificate of Completion
Upon completion, you receive a Quantum Academy certificate of completion. It is separate from our professional certifications and states your CPE credits, one for each 60 minutes of teaching. CISSP, CISM and CRISC holders can claim them with their certifying body. The credits also count toward renewing a Quantum Academy certification. Our CPE credits page explains how to claim them.
Who this course is for
Agency security architects and CIO staff, defense industrial base security leads, contracting and acquisition officers, and the system owners who will deliver against the milestones. Suppliers to these organizations take on the same requirements through contract flow-down. They are the second audience for this course.
If you work outside the US federal system, the material also applies to allied national programs, though your dates will differ.
What you’ll be able to do afterward
- Map CNSA 2.0 requirements and timelines to specific migration activities
- Apply the NSM-10 framework and subsequent executive order requirements
- Interpret the CISA Product Category Advisory for procurement decisions
- Plan PQC migration across classified and unclassified environments
- Address DIB contractual flow-down obligations
- Evaluate FedRAMP cloud service provider PQC readiness
What you leave with
When you finish, we email you the course handbook, a PDF of every slide with notes that explain it in full. We also include a PDF copy of Quantum Ready. The handbook is yours to keep.
Enrollment includes 180 days of access to the online on-demand course. Where that course is not yet published, the 180 days start on the day it is.
Where this course fits
Nothing is required. Post-Quantum Foundation covers the algorithm vocabulary if you want it first. The Quantum-Safe Government and Defense Intensive is the full-day, hands-on workshop. PQC Vendor Governance covers the flow-down obligations.
Why we teach this
The course is built on the Government and Defense Extension of the Applied Quantum PQC Migration Framework. The practitioners who teach here wrote it, and it is published openly under Creative Commons at pqcframework.org. Our faculty runs migration programs in this sector and teaches the constraints they meet in that work.
About this program
Quantum Academy credentials are private professional credentials issued by Quantum Academy, a trade name of Post-Quantum Institute. They are not government-issued licenses, accredited degrees, or academic credit, and earning one does not guarantee employment, promotion, regulatory approval, or any other specific outcome.
Quantum Academy programs are educational and informational only, and are not legal, compliance, or engineering advice.