UNKNOWN Does it or does it not contain a weakness that allows you to intercept the communications without access to the escrow keys.
BAKER No. ----------- ObNit: As has been said before by others, there's more to Clipper/EES than just the Skipjack algorithm. I think simply asking if "the [Skipjack] algorithm contains a deliberately encoded weakness" leaves too much room for a "truthful" No answer.
I'm not sure what the NSA policy is on this. However, at that same conference Jim Settle from the FBI told us plainly that he is allowed to lie, and that the courts have confirmed this right. I doubt Baker would have confessed to a back door even if one existed and the question was complete.