I think the NSA is threatening mostly in ways that are unintentional. Like the strange things I hear about them wanting Backdoors into everything. It seems like a Backdoor made for them is a Backdoor somebody else could use.
I also suspect the NSA is mostly a bunch of Surveillance Pork spending.
I guess in general, some push back against surveillance seems like a good thing. It can easily become ridiculous, especially if it involves contractors.
The whole thing is pointless. Like the f***en Taliban use regular everyday methods of communicating terrorist attacks. "We found'em on Twitter sending eachother memes! Good thing we stuck our f***en noses into EVERYONES f***en business" The entire NSA can shove it.