well I'm far from being pro-mass surveillance, but I actually fully understand this move.
Hacking into someone's computer is not a mass surveillance...
in theory such hacks will be used to hack mostly/ only into bad guys' machines - criminals, pedos, human traffickers,
terrorists 
etc. also - other countries' big fishes like businessmen, politicians and so on.
This is in theory - we all know that NSA motto is "sniff it all, collect it all and exploit it all"
And if you are journalist, linux lover, sysadmin, NGO guy - you will land into that list of targets too
The NSA Uses Powerful Toolbox in Effort to Spy on*Global Networks - SPIEGEL ONLINE
https://edwardsnowden.com/2015/07/21...to-enable-tao/
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/a...uters-malware/
NSA 'hijacked' criminal botnets to install spyware | Reuters
A Close Look at the NSAâ??s Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool | WIRED