> Why would the US Navy develop something to help dissidents in other nations?

From their website: "The [Naval Research Laboratory] works closely with the National Security Agency (NSA), Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)."

It's also designed for dissidents in countries that are either opponents or rivals of the US: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Brazil, and Venezuela. It allowed for pro-US dissidents and agents to stay unidentifiable to these nations while distributing pro-US messages.

I think the confusion here is some of us were talking about Tor as in "the onion router" as a protocol and some were talking about The Tor Project software. Who knows if government agencies use the tor project, or have their own specialized version.

The only reason I asked was because I've heard that government agencies need Tor because it's in their best interest to have channels for anonymity (again, not giving an opinion on whether it's good or bad, just a fact). So if methods for breaking that anonymity arise, I'd imagine it's a concern for them as much as any dissident out there.

>Why would the US Navy develop something to help dissidents in other nations?

Seriously? USA's notorious for not wanting to influence the destiny or politics of other countries, eh. /s

Congrats on pulling up a wikipedia article. You are now an expert.