[Apologies for not posting to alt.clipper, or whatever, but it seems it
may not be in the newsfeed here.]

There may be another reason (good from NSA's point of view, horrible
from everyone else's) why the algorithm/chip design might be secret.

First, note that the "experts" will only look at "details", and of just 
the algorithm:

    In addition, respected experts from outside the
    government will be offered access to the confidential details of
    the algorithm to assess its capabilities and publicly report
    their findings.

Why not the chip design?  Well, here's the possiblity:  in addition to
encryption, the chip pre-processes voice signals to make them easier
to analyze/transcribe electronically.  The chip, once widespread, might
effectively be part of a massively parallel computer for "voice-
grepping" the US phone network (or the criminal & wrong-thinking patrons
thereof).

I wouldn't put it past the NSA.  Think how much easier it would make life
for them.

And if this is indeed the case, think of the possible public outcry should
it become widely known.  Thus the secrecy.

It might be a good idea to have experts in DSP, voice recognition, and
AI conversation-understanding to be on that panel, and insist they be
given (authenticatable) design specs and implementation documentation.