To me, this feels a lot like what transpired with <a href="https://lavabit.com/" rel="nofollow">https://lavabit.com/</a>. Of course, that was a service operated by a company, not a open source software and a distributed network, but there might be paralells.<p>If you haven't read about it, read the post mortem on the Lavabit page.<p>To me, it's very likely that the government demanded backdoors in TOR code itself, or backdoor access to critical TOR infrastructure (bridge nodes, directory authority, large exit nodes, ...), all under gag orders that forbid any mention of this to the public.<p>Probably in the interest of 'national security'.<p>Can't be sure, of course, but I would not feel comfortable with using TOR for anything sensitive anymore.