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Regulation· 22 Jun 2026· United States· 5 min read

Executive Order 14412 sets hard 2030 and 2031 federal post-quantum deadlines

The June 2026 order fixes dates the US federal government had avoided for four years: key establishment by the end of 2030, digital signatures by the end of 2031.

Executive Order 14412, signed on 22 June 2026, directs every federal agency to name a PQC migration lead within 30 days and instructs OMB to issue implementing guidance within 90 days.

The order sets two dated obligations for high value assets and high impact systems, excluding national security systems: post-quantum key establishment by 31 December 2030 and post-quantum digital signatures by 31 December 2031.

OMB moved in two days rather than 90, publishing Memorandum M-26-15, Execution of the Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography, on 24 June 2026. Sector Risk Management Agencies are also told to help critical infrastructure operators build migration plans, which is how the federal clock reaches private operators.

NIST must additionally start its own migration pilot within 180 days and finish it by 31 December 2027.

What it means for your migration
  • Inventory is the gating task: the deadlines apply to HVAs and high impact systems, so those classifications now drive migration sequencing.
  • Key establishment moves a year before signatures, matching the harvest-now-decrypt-later risk order.
  • Contractors and critical infrastructure operators should expect dated PQC support questions in procurement, propagated through Sector Risk Management Agencies.

These are policy deadlines for migration. They are not predictions of when a quantum computer will break RSA or ECC.

Chronology

Timeline of events

Every step in this story with its date, authority and evidence class.

  1. 4 May 2022A1

    NSM-10 sets a 2035 migration goal

    National Security Memorandum 10 establishes the original government-wide migration target.

    The White House ↗

  2. 13 Aug 2024A1

    FIPS 203, 204 and 205 published

    ML-KEM, ML-DSA and SLH-DSA become final federal standards, making migration technically actionable.

    NIST ↗

  3. 22 Jun 2026A1

    Executive Order 14412 signed

    Sets the 2030 key establishment and 2031 digital signature deadlines and requires agency PQC migration leads within 30 days.

    Executive Order 14412 ↗

  4. 24 Jun 2026A1

    OMB issues M-26-15

    Implementing guidance for the federal migration published two days after the order, well inside the 90-day requirement.

    OMB ↗

  5. 25 Jun 2026A1

    Order published in the Federal Register

    Published at 91 FR 38483 as document 2026-12909.

    Federal Register ↗

  6. 31 Dec 2027A1

    NIST migration pilot completion date

    NIST must complete a PQC migration pilot on a subset of its own systems.

    Executive Order 14412 Sec. 4 ↗

  7. 31 Dec 2030A1

    Key establishment deadline

    All HVAs and high impact systems must use PQC for key establishment.

    Executive Order 14412 Sec. 4 ↗

  8. 31 Dec 2031A1

    Digital signature deadline

    All HVAs and high impact systems must use PQC for digital signatures.

    Executive Order 14412 Sec. 4 ↗