I guess my conclusion is that in general Americans trust their politicians/government, whereas in the UK the general public assumes they're the enemy and not to be trusted, so this wouldn't be a major surprise.
I think it's a very European thing to love one's country and hate one's government. My impression is that americans often consider those two things inseperable.
Probably comes from our history of invading each other and generally having oppressive governments we don't recognise as our own. Kind of sticks with the culture even after countries start ruling themselves. I mean, even when we didn't have foreign rulers, they were of a different class and could as well be foreign for all the common traits they shared with their subjects.
As a European in the US, I can assure you there is very little love for the govt. here too. One big difference is the debate over whether one even needs a government, a question which seems self-evident and not worth considering in (most of) Europe.
I find it surprising that people are surprised by the NSA revelations. I sort of assumed the NSA is in everything electronic. Probably the Chinese too.
I guess my conclusion is that in general Americans trust their politicians/government, whereas in the UK the general public assumes they're the enemy and not to be trusted, so this wouldn't be a major surprise.