What does NSA mean by 'Analyzable'? Recently NSA published two new algorithms, Simon and Speck. In the abstract they say


  The aim of SIMON and SPECK is to fill the need for secure, flexible, and analyzable lightweight block ciphers.


so as the question title says, what does 'analyzable' mean? BTW I found the publication through Schneier's blog post about it.

I haven't had time to read the entire document but haven't found any other references to that particular word. Do they mean the algorithms are easy to be 'proven secure'? Or is it something else? To conclude, this question does invite some degree of discussion, if you feel it doesn't comply with the site's policy, please flag it down. Cheers
Analyzable in this case means "simple to study".

If your cipher consists of a small function that mixes a few things together, and then you repeat that often then your cipher is more easily understood and more easily fit into previous research knowledge than a overclomplicated large design. This is the case with Simon and Speck.

Being easy to analyze is a good property for a strong cipher. If people fully understand it and fully checked everything and still couldn't find a weakness then it adds confidence in the cipher. A more complicated design is more likely to have a "hidden weakness" - because more things can go wrong.