THE GLOBAL QUANTUM‑SECURITY BENCHMARK: SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY, SUPPLY‑CHAIN INTEGRITY, AND BUYER RISK

Global quantum-security is a facade. This forensic audit exposes the Verification Deficit between vendor marketing and deployable evidence, and the geopolitical fragmentation into incompatible cryptographic blocs. Introducing the Quantum Readiness Audit Protocol (QRAP™), it benchmarks eight nations, revealing a stratified landscape: US/EU algorithmic hegemony, China's physical QKD fortress, and constrained hybrid economies. The finding is non-negotiable: quantum risk is now a board-level fiduciary duty, with "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" attacks creating retroactive liability. The document concludes with the SITG Sovereign Standard—a mandatory control framework replacing trust with continuous telemetry. Sovereignty is a verifiable capability, not a purchase.