OK lets turn this on its head, I think we now have a good idea of how to build a cipher in clean room conditions such that nobody is aware of the full details of the algorithm. Team 1: Develop an encryption network, implement as hardware Team 2: Test various combinations of keyspace.features without being exposed to inner workings of the cipher. Develop your Clipper chip this way and nobody can reveal the source. Fun huh? I think we are about to see a cascade of Skipjack hoaxes regardless of the provenance of the original. Now people have the idea the clueless newbies will try. I'm suprised nobody has tried before, I thought of constructing a Skipjack hoax based on DES but with larger S boxes. S1 could be made to run very fast, a straight through pipeline would be very nice in hardware. Anyone care to suggest how a secure cipher might be based on it (ie appart form the clearly bogus key schedule)? I think a score sheet is in order, marks out of 5 for what? Distribution, technical ingenuity, credibility, annoying Dorothy, hardware suitability, software suitability... ? Perhaps the NSA might volunteer to serve the page with the cumulative judgments. Phill