What Is the Quantum Era?
History rarely tells us when a new era begins. We usually recognize it only after the rules have changed. I believe we are living through one of those moments.
Throughout my career, in military leadership, national security, cybersecurity, and more recently quantum technologies, I have learned that the most consequential technological revolutions rarely begin with a dramatic breakthrough. They begin much earlier, when governments, industries, and institutions quietly start changing the way they think and prepare.
I have seen national security strategies evolve years before the technologies driving those changes became operational. I have watched industries invest in emerging technologies long before markets fully understood what was coming.
That experience has shaped how I view quantum technologies today.
What is the Quantum Era?
When most people hear the word quantum, they immediately think about quantum computers.
That is understandable, but incomplete. Quantum computing is only one part of a much broader transformation.
I define the Quantum Era as the period in which governments, industries, and societies begin adapting to the strategic implications of quantum technologies, long before those technologies become commonplace.
In other words, the Quantum Era does not begin when quantum computers arrive.
It begins when our decisions change in anticipation of their arrival.
The real risk is not that quantum computers will arrive sooner than expected. It is that institutions will prepare later than they should.
That shift is already underway.
Consider GPS. Most people think of it simply as the technology that helps them navigate from one place to another. In reality, GPS quietly synchronizes financial transactions, telecommunications networks, aviation, emergency services, and military operations. Most of us never think about it until it stops working.
The Quantum Era will be much the same. Its greatest impact will not come from the technologies we see. It will come from the invisible systems our societies already depend upon.
Some quantum technologies will transform how we compute. Others will redefine secure communications. Others will dramatically improve sensing, positioning, timing, and scientific measurement.
Together, they will reshape something even more fundamental: trust.
Every major digital system ultimately depends on trust. Quantum technologies will force us to rethink how that trust is created, maintained, and protected.
Why does this matter today?
One lesson from national security has stayed with me throughout my career. Responsible leaders do not prepare only for today’s threats.
In my view, the greatest strategic mistake is to assume that technological maturity and strategic urgency arrive at the same time. They rarely do.
This is precisely why governments around the world are investing billions of dollars in quantum technologies today, not because they expect fully capable quantum computers to transform society next year, but because they understand that strategic infrastructure cannot be redesigned overnight.
In June 2026, the White House issued Executive Order 14412, “Securing the Nation Against Advanced Cryptographic Attacks,” requiring every US federal agency to name a post-quantum migration lead within thirty days and setting binding deadlines, 2030 for key establishment and 2031 for digital signatures, for the government’s most sensitive systems.
That is not a research initiative.
It is national strategy in action.
Israel is moving on a parallel track. In July 2026, the Israel Innovation Authority launched a NIS 100 million program to build a national quantum computing R&D infrastructure, a shared testbed spanning multiple qubit technologies designed to shorten the distance between Israeli research and fielded capability.
Like the United States, Israel is acting before quantum technologies have reached full maturity. That is precisely the point.
Similar shifts are happening across research, standards, and critical infrastructure. These are not reactions to a future event. They are evidence that the Quantum Era has already begun.
Why I am writing this series
My goal is not to explain quantum physics. My goal is to explore the strategic questions that quantum technologies raise for governments, businesses, and society.
What does the Quantum Era mean for national security? Why is post-quantum security about much more than replacing encryption? How will artificial intelligence and quantum technologies reinforce one another? What is digital trust, and why will it become a strategic national asset? What opportunity does Israel have to become a global leader in this emerging field?
These are the questions I hope to explore in the months ahead.
I do not claim to have all of the answers, but I believe we need to start asking better questions.
Every major technological revolution begins with invention. The nations that lead those revolutions begin with understanding.
My hope is that this column will contribute, in some small way, to that understanding, and help bridge the gap between technological innovation and strategic decision-making.
Because history has shown that societies are rarely transformed by technology alone. They are transformed by the decisions people make about it.
The Quantum Era has already begun.
The question is whether we are prepared to think differently because of it.
In my next article, I will explore one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the Quantum Era: why quantum security is about far more than replacing encryption.
