“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” ― Joseph Heller
After Assange and h Snowden is pretty clear nobody is paranoid the documents are out there the NSA has a system where they monitor people inside and outside the United States the real question is what do you do when they are after everyone
But they have an obvious vested interest in having sufficient data to track the motions of anyone, because they can't know a-priori who is involved in an activity harmful to the interests of the United States of America until they have evidence an activity has happened or will happen and need to begin connecting the dots to identify the pattern.
You can't connect dots you don't have. Most of the NSA's behavior can be understood as maximizing their dots.