based on the first paragraph, I wonder how many outages because of damaged undersea cables are caused by intelligence agencies botching their cable taps?
Even a "correct" tap installation might cause an outage due to the particulars of optical-fiber manipulation. There have been occasional reports of cable breaks in the news - I've noticed since about the 1990s. They have been attributed, usually to ship anchors, or other accidental occurrences. (Supposedly also, sharks bite cables, attracted by current, but this may apply more to wire than fiber)