"The question is how much effort is the NSA putting into crypto research vs. the academic community, and I imagine we don't have a good way to answer that quest

"The question is how much effort is the NSA putting into crypto research vs. the academic community, and I imagine we don't have a good way to answer that question." Actually we do. Network-centric warfare, financial market stability, policy planning, diplomacy and law enforcement do not rely on the academic community for the integrity and security of their systems. They do rely on the NSA. Its not unreasonable to infer the NSA access to funding and intellectual talent in the face of a credible threat or worthwhile opportunity is practically unlimited as compared to academia.