A $350 million computing initiative and a military-wide cryptographic transition serve different purposes. Both must be measured against the mission, not the milestone.

The Pentagon is putting money behind tomorrow’s quantum computers while racing to protect today’s military networks from what sufficiently advanced quantum computers could eventually do to them. Those efforts are technically different. This week, they arrived in the headlines almost together.

During his September 30, 2026, "State of the Force" address at Quantico, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth unveiled Project Meridian, Project Agincourt, and an Autonomous Warfare Command. Meridian focuses on technology to dominate the future battlefield, while the command aims to speed adoption and use of autonomous and robotic systems. The Secretary's actions, supported by other necessary reforms, could restore the force's lethality, but how rapidly and effectively? To fully realize its potential, the Department may need to abandon long-established pillars of its acquisition, test-and-evaluation program, and requirements systems. Current programs and practices support technological advancement, but the Secretary's objectives more closely resemble a fundamental paradigm shift.

To achieve his ambitious and laudable objectives, Secretary Hegseth should allocate parallel, expansive, and urgent resources to revolutionize systemic issues he has already identified: antiquated acquisition processes, a commercial culture that prioritizes profit over innovation, and the need to safeguard sensitive technologies. I also propose adding a concerted investment in identifying future battlefield threats and leveraging non-traditional performers to address them.