Reclassifying Quantum: The Export Control and Classification Policy Decisions That Cannot Wait for Consensus
Quantum technology sits across multiple export control regimes simultaneously. EAR covers dual-use items. ITAR covers defence applications. UK strategic export licensing has its own category definitions. The categories were written before the current generation of quantum hardware existed, before QKD systems were commercially available, and before post-quantum cryptographic software became the primary migration tool for critical infrastructure. The classification policy is out of date. This conversation is for the officials and advisors writing the updates.
Event Details
- Who else is in the room
- Senior level executive peers, industry leaders, experts in risk, technology and business. Specifically: intelligence professionals and policy officials with direct responsibility for export control policy, technology classification, and allied technology sharing frameworks involving quantum items.
- Access
- Members only. Bundled with Expert Membership. Included with Expert Member tier
- Sponsor
- Organised by QSECDEF
- Facilitator
-
Anna Beata Kalisz Hedegaard Quantum Security Defence - Rules of engagement
- Chatham House Rule Chatham House Rule. Discussion is on the record; attribution is not. Participants may share what was said but not who said it.
- Format
- Structured Q&A Flexible between roundtable, structured Q&A or in-person hosted dinner
- Who Should Join
- This conversation is for intelligence community professionals and policy officials with direct responsibility for export control policy, technology classification, or allied technology sharing frameworks involving quantum items. It is relevant to senior officials at BIS, DDTC, UK Export Control Joint Unit, and equivalent bodies, and to policy advisors who brief them. It is not for commercial quantum companies seeking export licence guidance or for legal professionals without a policy design mandate. Participants are expected to be involved in classification policy design, not compliance.
About This Conversation
Why this matters now
EAR controls on quantum computing items are under active review within the Bureau of Industry and Security. UK export control licensing for quantum items has been updated post-Brexit but the classification of quantum cryptographic software and hardware remains an active policy question. ITAR's coverage of quantum technologies with defence applications creates a parallel US regulatory layer that complicates allied collaboration on quantum security standards. Notably, no BIS rulemaking update has yet been published to explicitly list ML-KEM or ML-DSA by name in the Commerce Control List following the August 2024 FIPS finalisation. The tension between protecting sensitive quantum capability and enabling the international standards collaboration that post-quantum cryptography depends on is a live policy problem.
Outcomes
What you will leave with
- A comparative view of how EAR, ITAR, and UK export control regimes currently classify quantum technology items: where the categories are coherent and where they are creating unintended consequences
- A frank assessment of the allied collaboration problem: where export control constraints are impeding the standards work that post-quantum cryptography migration depends on
- Peer experience from officials who have navigated the classification review process: what the decision-points are and where the institutional resistance comes from
- Clarity on the QKD hardware classification question specifically: the item type where export control policy is most consequential and most contested
- A shared map of the inter-regime coordination problem: where EAR, ITAR, and UK controls create inconsistent treatment of the same technology item
Your Facilitator
Anna Beata Kalisz Hedegaard
Founder, QSECDEF
Anna Beata Kalisz Hedegaard has over 15 years of international experience in deep-tech, telecommunications, and defence communications networks. Her expertise spans intellectual property, advanced communications systems, and quantum secure communications. She has lived and worked across Poland, Denmark, the United States, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Germany. Anna holds dual Master of Science degrees in Theoretical Cosmology from the University of Southern Denmark and Electrical Engineering from Wright State University, USA. She is the founder and board member of Quantum Security Defence.
View full profileExpert Membership
Industry Conversations are exclusive to Expert Members
Expert membership brings you into a closed community of senior security practitioners. Industry Conversations are included in the membership. Individual tickets are not available.
- Access to all Industry Conversations
- Speaker opportunities at the annual Paris Symposium
- Enhanced expert profile with lecture archive
- Advisory board nomination eligibility
- Co-branding opportunities and social amplification