Take this as an anecdote, but I have a friend that works at the top of a large quantum computing program at a well known company and he related once that the go

Take this as an anecdote, but I have a friend that works at the top of a large quantum computing program at a well known company and he related once that the government is making it very difficult for them to retain talent in the field and make progress. The government feels it has to be at the forefront of quantum tech because of the possibly game-changing encryption capabilities. It was a bit chilling to hear but not at all surprising. As a participant in the "digital underground" since the early 80's, we were very aware of "ECHELON", "5 eyes", and other spying programs. The "Snowden revelations" are not really anything new, living a life around digital communications 20 years before most people ever heard of the internet it was clear very early that surveillance is just something the government is going to do. And yes, they definitely would consider it top-secret info if they did create a quantum computer capable of cracking modern encryption. We wouldn't know about it unless someone leaks it, but I don't really care if anyone leaks that info - they either already have it or will have it first so it's fair to just assume that they do have that capability.