As for algorithms, some are from government employees, but most are from private mathematicians.
"SHA-2 is a set of cryptographic hash functions (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512) designed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and published in 2001 by the NIST as a U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)."
Thanks, but I think we are referring to two different things. You are referring to the algorithm which Bitcoin is based on, which indeed is the product of the NSA. I was referring to algorithms in general (and ciphers), which are usually, though far from always, the product of the private sector.
No confusion here. You just misspoke. This is the line you were answering to. Unless of course you were talking about a random algorithm in your mind or any other algorithm that has nothing to do with the discussion in hand.......