[smallblacksun]

>We have never allowed US citizens or foreign citizens working in the US to hack on crypto code

This is hilarious logic, because no other country could possibly want to have a backdoor, and the NSA/CIA couldn't possibly hire a foreign national working in another country.

[Malus]

It has nothing to do with that. The rationale for this is to avoid any problems with US law regarding the exporting of cryptographic software:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_in_the_U...

[burgerbrain]

It has to do with the laws the US places on exporting crypto.