As far as I know, gpg version 1.x doesn't try to download anything by itself. Maybe it's different for version 2.x, or some secondary software depending upon gpg? Regarding public key signing, http://xkcd.com/364/

I though it was interesting that one of the requirements for building the barrelfish-thing is GHC v6.8.2 (Glasgow Haskell). Although, from a quick look at it, I got the impression that the Haskell-stuff is used for various tools, and maybe not for the kernel itself. Using Haskell to write kernel modules is of course already a possibility for us Linux users (http://tommd.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/kernel-modules-in-haskell/) ;)

From www.minix3.org "MINIX 1 and 2 were intended as teaching tools; MINIX 3 adds the new goal of being usable as a serious system on resource-limited and embedded computers and for applications requiring high reliability"

Looking for a job?
Dunno about the military and quantum cryptography, but the NSA are looking for people doing quantum-computing related research, maybe chryptography fit in?
http://aip.jobcontrolcenter.com/jobdetail.cfm?job= 2296154