S.Amdt. 2256

SA 2256. Mrs. BLACKBURN submitted an amendment intended to be
proposed by her to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for
fiscal year 2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense,
for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department
of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal
year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:

At the appropriate place in title II, insert the following:

SEC. _____. MEASURES TO ADVANCE QUANTUM INFORMATION SCIENCE
WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

(a) Strategic Plan.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall develop a
strategic plan to guide the research, development, test and
evaluation,

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procurement, and implementation of quantum information
science technologies within the Department of Defense,
including the covered Armed Forces, over the period of five
years following the date of the enactment of this Act.
(2) Elements.--The plan required under paragraph (1) shall
include the following:
(A) Identification of--
(i) quantum information science technologies that have the
potential to solve operational challenges faced by the
Department of Defense; and
(ii) the technology readiness levels of those quantum
information science technologies.
(B) Plans to transition technologies identified under
subparagraph (A) from the research, development, and
prototyping phases into operational use within the
Department.
(C) Plans for allocating the resources of the Department to
ensure such resources are focused on quantum information
science technologies with the potential to solve operational
challenges as identified under subparagraph (A).
(D) Plans for the continuous evaluation, development, and
implementation of quantum information science technology
solutions within the Department.
(E) Plans for the development, review, performance
evaluation, and adoption of a fault-tolerant, utility-scale
quantum computer and the transition of that capability to
appropriate organizations and elements of the Department of
Defense and such other departments and agencies of the
Federal Government as the Secretary determines appropriate.
(3) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit
to the congressional defense committees a report that
includes--
(A) the strategic plan developed under paragraph (1); and
(B) an assessment of whether the budgets proposed for
quantum information science-related activities of the
Department of Defense and each of the covered Armed Forces
appropriately balance the use of research, development, test,
and evaluation funds designated as budget activity 1 (basic
research), budget activity 2 (applied research), and budget
activity 3 (advanced technology development) (as those budget
activity classifications are set forth in volume 2B, chapter
5 of the Department of Defense Financial Management
Regulation (DOD 7000.14-R)) to achieve the objectives of the
strategic plan over near-, mid-, and long-term timeframes.
(b) Quantum Computing Center of Excellence.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish a
Quantum Computing Center of Excellence (referred to in this
subsection as the ``Center'') at a research laboratory of a
covered Armed Force with requisite experience in quantum
computing, integrated photonics and photon qubits,
superconducting and hybrid systems, and trapped ions.
(2) Activities.--The Center shall carry out the following
activities:
(A) Accelerate the transition of advanced quantum and
quantum hybrid computing technology from the research and
development phase into operational use.
(B) Facilitate quantum computing workforce development.
(C) Conduct outreach to enhance government, industry, and
academia's understanding of--
(i) national security-related use cases for quantum
computing and quantum hybrid technology; and
(ii) operational challenges faced by the Department of
Defense that may be addressed using such technology.
(D) Conduct prototyping of quantum computing and quantum
hybrid applications.
(E) Undertake efforts to advance the technology readiness
levels of quantum computing technologies.
(F) Carry out such other activities relating to quantum
computing as the Secretary determines appropriate.
(3) Partner organizations.--For purposes of carrying out
the activities of the Center under this subsection, the
research laboratory selected under paragraph (1) may partner
with one or more of the following:
(A) Other research laboratories of the covered Armed
Forces.
(B) The Defense Innovation Unit.
(C) Federally funded research and development centers.
(D) University affiliated research centers.
(E) Private sector entities with expertise in quantum
computing.
(F) Such other organizations as the Secretary of Defense
determines appropriate.
(4) Contract authority.--Subject to availability of
appropriations, Secretary of Defense may make grants and
enter into contracts or other agreements, on a competitive
basis, to support the activities of the Center.
(5) Termination.--The Center shall terminate on the date
that is 10 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``covered Armed Force'' means the Army, Navy,
Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force.
(2) The term ``quantum computing'' means computing
algorithms and applications that use quantum mechanics
through quantum processing units, including--
(A) quantum-classical hybrid applications which are
applications that use both quantum computing and classical
computing hardware systems;
(B) annealing and gate systems; and
(C) all qubit modalities (including superconducting,
trapped-ion, neutral atom, and photonics).
(3) The term ``quantum information science'' means the use
of the laws of quantum physics for the storage, transmission,
manipulation, computing, or measurement of information.
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