> it's reasonable to assume that there are quantum machines in the works or already operating (to some extent) behind closed doors inside institutions that bene

> it's reasonable to assume that there are quantum machines in the works or already operating (to some extent) behind closed doors inside institutions that benefit from having everyone believe such a capability doesn't exist yet. I would be very surprised. Somehow, the more clandestine parts of governments would have had to siphon off a whole ton of people working in quantum information (physicists, engineers, mathematicians), which is a relatively new and close-knit field, without anybody noticing. Or, people who work in collaboration with parts of the government (NIST and UMD's JQI) are all making up work that looks like they haven't cracked it yet, when they really did last year. If all the NSA needed were mathematicians and electrical engineers that specialized in classical computing, then I could believe they had something going on. As it stands, most people in QI seem to land in industry, academia, or perhaps some national laboratories, not report to Fort Meade or fall of the face of the Earth. This would be like doing the Manhattan project, but with the extra complication finding convincing body doubles for Feynman, Oppenheimer, etc.