At a guess they are ordinary people thinking they are doing something good and working hard for the cause, be it a love for their country or genuine sense of protecting their own or some concept ('freedom'). On average they'll be very intelligent and working harder than their counterparts in industry for less money.
At a guess you believe they're not actually doing something good even though you are, on average, less informed about their mission and activities, less intelligent, and lazier.
We established the cognitive bias to rationalize it as good.
What would the cognitive bias to rationalize it as bad be?
The reason I believe it is bad is because it violates the spirit of the 4th amendment. It gives incredible power to an organization with no effective oversight. It lacks proper judicial review, and the existing supposed review has been shown to be a farce. It makes everyone using technology less secure. It wastes everyone's resources who have to work against and around the NSA.
Everyone knows they are being watched, listened to, tracked everywhere.
The big deal, though, is the power concentration and chilling effect of such massive surveillance even the Stasi couldn't dream of.
True believers with good intentions.