The CEO of a consulting firm with government funding just told you there is very likely a set of backdoors in a crypto stack that will be increasingly relied on in coming years.
Theo's lack of concern is unsettling.
"Meh, if it's there, someone who cares will look for it and find it."
"The ex-CTO of a government contractor with a history of being bat-shit insane just told you there is very likely a set of backdoors in a crypto stack"...
You left out the bit where it was his company that he claimed added the alleged backdoors. If he's as untrustworthy as you've hinted at, I expect that those with authoritative knowledge will speak to that soon enough, but it seems like it will take more than just evidence of past lying to put this one to rest. Even liars tell truths.
I assume that he came to the conclusion that he isn't qualified to look for it - without massive familiarity with the code trying to find something that was intentionally hidden would probably just be a waste of time he could better spend.
Disclosing the allegations so those with a reasonable chance of finding the thing if it exists is, basically, the responsible thing to do here.
Theo's lack of concern is unsettling.
"Meh, if it's there, someone who cares will look for it and find it."