> cryptography does not in fact run on trust This is true if and only if you can and have read the underlying math/algorithm. I haven't read Speck. My mother h

> cryptography does not in fact run on trust This is true if and only if you can and have read the underlying math/algorithm. I haven't read Speck. My mother hasn't read the details of any type of crypto. So we don't have a basis for trusting Speck from first principles; we have to trust someone else for their expert opinion. You're only looking at the technical details. In the real world, approximately nobody has the time and training to do that, and we must rely at least somewhat on trust. For those purposes, the NSA is no longer seen as a trustworthy expert. (I'll point out that I haven't suggested that nobody should use Speck. Also, my opinion of it might change upon seeing some basis for trust (i.e. endorsement by other trusted experts or if I find the time to actually read the technical details myself))