This is what I thought all along.

A) Access is MUCH broader than just tapping Google, FB, MSFT, etc. Access is at the far broader level of telecommunication cables. Encryption can be broken later, with specialty FPGA chips.

B) More importantly, the US taking "everything foreign" and with GCHQ (also) taking "everything foreign" ... the Venn set of these two closely associated govt spying operations means they get "everything, period", including US domestic communications.

If true, the Snowden revelations are (small) child's play to what may actually be being surveilled, which may indeed be everything.

> Encryption can be broken later, with specialty FPGA chips.

(http://www.gchq.gov.uk/AboutUs/Pages/Engineering-and-Technol...)

> Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language (VHDL) is used in system development stages. Circuits are implemented in discrete components, Integrated Circuits (ICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).

> Most systems are PC based or rack mounted, although some have more demanding requirements. GCHQ is moving towards CE safety accreditation for all new systems, although all field systems are already fully Tempest tested.

EDIT: About your second point. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON)

> ECHELON is a name used in global media and in popular culture to describe a signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection and analysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement[1] (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, [...] etc.

UK passes names to the US; US passes names to the UK; this is a neat way to avoid the "don't spy on your own citizens" laws.