I'm aware of the illegal NSA spying, but surely they're still somewhat more cautious about deploying domestic surveillance. Going overseas makes it all legal and OK, here they at least theoretically are not supposed to be doing things, and that's better than nothing, right?

so you're arguing that despite doing massive domestic surveillance, solidly supported by the government, they're not going to use the data because of their good moral standing.

or are you being sarcastic?

I suggest that there are legal implications that make it more difficult to use that information on cases that are not "high value".