[stevecooperorg]

As a Brit, my reaction was one of complete lack of surprise. I wonder if that is widespread, and accounts for the muted reaction.

The US operates big, obvious surveillance facilities from inside Britain. For instance, I like to hike, and two places very close to me are the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors national parks. So every time I drive out there I will pass either of these two installations;

  Menwith Hill: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=menwith+hill&tbm=isch
  RAF Fylingdales: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=raf+fylingdales&tbm=isch

These are two big, public surveillance facilities -- the first is run by the NSA, the second run partly for NORAD. They are really large, obvious physical structures built for surveillance. It is then no surprise to find out that the NSA and GCHQ have been working together to do actual spying, is it?

Imagine as a US citizen that you were living in San Francisco, and knew that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service had a 500-acre intelligence-gathering base in Mountain View, CA. Would you be in any way surprised to find out the Russians and your own government were spying on you?