Lots of people saying either "good, this is their job" and "old news"-- shill trademark phrases. I'm not making any accusations exactly, but I am concerned at the mass of simple, positive, and vapid comments in this thread.
I never dismiss the possibility of JTRIG-style disinformation or the far more common problem of people that have to argue a certain way because their salary depends on that point of view.
That said, I suggest considering Jacob Appelbaum's interpretation[1] of the "not surprised" dismissal: it' s a coping mechanism. It's an expression of frustration about not being able to do anything about the problem. The bigger question is if the phrase is being used to shut down discussion? Or can we acknowledge that frustration and try to find some way past it. It's difficult to care about a cause if you don't see even a theoretical way for the cause to succeed.
A particularly effective weapon is convincing your opponents that they cannot win. I suggest that the "cannot win" scenario only happens if we let it happen( by adopting a nihilistic, defeatist attitude.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9Xw3z-8oP4#t=594
(I recommend watching the entire talk - especially the question from someone in the NSA (!) at the end)
How do we know if the NSA should exist, or if it's acting outside its jurisdiction? All that info is classified, or crapagandized.
I ask both on principle and because the quality of discussion is noticeably damaged by having to wade through many questionably real comments before finding actual discussion.
And of course it's not just the Americans doing this, undoubtedly the Russians/Chinese etc do something similar.
http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM11/paper/view/2...
Not only that, they are completely missing Snowdens point. Which is that US intelligence are out of control and has become self-serving to the point of hurting US interests and principles.
It's dangerous to make specific accusations (many people are just ignorant, confused, or frustrated), but that doesn't account for the reliability, low latency, and consistency of the NSA apologizing in any of these "big" NSA stories.
Dismissing people as shills just because they disagree with you is incredibly arrogant.