It's strange that this is all coming up just now. The NSA has had this technology since at least 1992 when it was revealed in the gripping documentary movie "Sneakers".
Then again in Enemy of the State, which should have won the Pulitzer Prize. Hollywood has been warning us about this stuff for years!
A good deal of this is to try to take the US down a notch because they are seen as too powerful. This is why it is rarely mentioned how close the entire West works together, hell what are you going to do hate the entire West? Recently they have had to concede the UK and eventually will have to concede the entire West and then the game is over unless you like actual authoritarianism like China and Russia.