There's no high tech terror for the NSA to fight. So-called intelligence about what Angela Merkel is thinking is of no diplomatic or economic use.

The NSA has almost no purpose in practical government.

But the NSA does do a lot and has a mission. It's the same mission US law enforcement always invents for itself. The NSA provides lots of leads to cops to arrest innocent drug dealers. Aside from parallel construction, the NSA does the same thing most FBI, DEA, and Border Patrol dollars go to: small time non-violent drug offender persecution.

The NSA is also heavily engaged in industrial espionage.

What Angela Merkel has to say may be irrelevant, but having insights into trade deals before they are signed certainly isn't.

Only if you want to try and unfairly tip the balance towards yourselves by outmanouvering your opponents, in which case the unfairness of the resulting trade deals will be obvious to all who read them. Attempting to fuck with an economy the size of Europe's by spying in trade negotiations only leads to problems in the long run.

Collusion, then things like "parallel reconstruction" and inter-agency agreements to keep things dark.

Power always corrupts. The big lie is "No, our motives are to keep you safe, and [list of the usual bad things] can't possibly happen this time."

I used the term loosely, but the FBI director was the one agitating for crypto legislation recently.