Different oversight and historical accountability.
If the front and back license plates, driver and passengers are going to get tracked in some federal database best to use a federal database that lawyers, the press, politicians and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) cant really question or even know about.
It also hides the requests for optical character recognition, facial recognition system away from the teams of journalists who look deep into state, federal gov and mil procurement databases for just such public contracts.
The US press and legal teams at a state and federal level where able to track cellular phone surveillance device due to paper work.
By using different federal enforcement projects to buy and run tracking systems the public databases and open court material can be kept more clean from legal teams and the press.

The US has its own unique nuclear issues. Some locations where selected on older planning ideas and more is now understood about the deep geology.
Just thinking about reports on earthquakes and flooding is expensive as the press and locals do read the reports and ask more difficult questions.
The need for pressure-venting flaps and what role they could have or how they would work when needed?
The costs of parts, the ability to fit, look after and even buy quality parts is the main issue in the US.
The site locations of basic emergency and limited redundant systems has been set over decades and is costed. The locations of US cooling, power, electrical sub systems as a back up to the main systems when they fail is price set as US standards and tested over decades.
The US has a lot of old questions about its old designs and just keeping or getting needed spare parts that meet low US standards is difficult.
If the US now has to pay to upgrade or even rebuild parts of its nuclear sites to fancy new standards? Find the cracks, report the cracks, fix and then pay to have teams look for new cracks as part of ongoing ongoing preventative maintenance?
The easy way out is just another round of decades of US paper licence extensions.
If the public saw press images from foreign inspections at US sites? Or understood the role of US insurance for US nuclear sites?
Best to keep the paper licence extensions, keep all foreign inspections focused to non proliferation issues and veto any talk of costly international upgrades.
No need to waste profits on new ideas as the needed maintenance costs are already too expensive. Upgrades as needed for parts only and the locals keep their jobs. The nuclear priesthood did a great job with the US nuclear paper licence extensions. The next part is the looking after profits and any keeping new nuclear standards voluntary.

Re: "But, honestly, that same amount of money will get you a MUCH better NEW laptop and there are ways to secure a system around AMT."
The issues with the newer systems is the remote low level access thats part of the "NEW laptop" or computer system.
If a person is seen and tracked outside away from their networked computer that would give time to access that networked computer.
Some of the needed tools are are built into the hardware as sold and powered waiting for the remote commands.
After a system is altered all the owner would see in their own logs is the soft sleep or shutdown and their own use.
Projects like this remove some of that built in, waiting, easy remote access as sold. A remote system that could have granted easy network access might now need physical access or other network access that might be more a bit more difficult to hide.

Re: "It long past the point where the world needs a reliable supply of non-US based technology components, i now consider almost everything originating from the US as being irrevocably compromised"
Yes this is the first small positive steps that keep the networked computing side. The user gets new firmware, hardware and an OS thats more understood. The hardware also has some of the more remote friendly aspects looked at.
The next step for nations is a box with a chip and motherboard that is fully understood as designed. Beyond that is paper, a typewriter, one time pads and number stations.
Projects like this will help a lot of people and nations :)

Whats the average file size of the 350? Then work out the data flow of rest from that 0.0001 per cent of the total collected data.

Yes think of the domestic control. Human rights defenders, political parties, journalists, community leaders, trade unionists, legal teams, lawyers all might get an offer of digital files.
With systems like this that can be tracked back to the uploader and tracked to any other new downloaders.
A link sent to one person might get printed out and given to other human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers. No direct contact only interest in the same file.
A great way to stop domestic whistleblowers who try and use digital files and servers or just track a well crafted limited hangout.
A gov or mil needed the cover to say its only for foreigners to keep the gov staff happy.
Most govs worked out many years ago to tell gov staff that vast domestic surveillance networks where always only for foreigners and the Soviet Union. It stops all the same internal legal questions over the decades.

The press now has all the material.
The material shows that the privacy and anonymity of any net based services can be reduced and tracked.
Anything uploaded or downloaded can be tracked over time. A system to find what is going to be tracked and how to track the uploader and all downloaders. From a journalist under constant surveillance back to a contact who uploaded a file?
No data set is too large, network too difficult.

Informants with the slang, background story, paperwork and history that was created and correct for a group, cult, political event or other gathering.
Creating informants. Disrupting any real gatherings and recreating the members in a new front group as bait.
Computer networks attract like minded people to post and chat about their interests. At that stage their anonymity and privacy is fair game.
Encryption will not protect the origin of the message from a domestic system like Tempora https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Privacy is gone when interacting with over time with interesting, creative strangers.
Encryption protects the message along the network. If the end site is a trap or has malware? The users origin could be traced with creative code on a site.
Keep a person of interest posting, making friends, invite them to help with very simple admin work. Turn them, track them or just use their content as bait.
Thats why encryption never worried the NSA or GCHQ. The encryption sold or offered was a junk standard or the entire surrounding network was tame.
The origins or and color of law that followed the The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... should allow some insight into the tame networks.

The AC seems to list them by some security clearance that then fits in with skills needed on a past US mil or gov computer project?
Groups within some nations can also bring in a lot of shared experiences about college, how they where taught and past work.
That can shape a team or really allow group think to set in, cult like with a leader.

Re: "...how many nails does this damn coffin need before we can bury it?!"
Flash player still has the camera and mic support. A change to HTML5 video was the huge step.

Re "It needed to be replaced with something less detectable."
It depends on where some gov backed malware is found, who is hired to remove it and who can ensure any code found in the wild is not passed to antivirus, spyware and malware protection teams for further global study and public discussion.
A nation would allow its own private sector or academic teams to find the malware networking, create an expert team for the study and removal only to be told it would be done by a domestic intelligence organization.
So Western nation could have teams find the networking used but nothing more would be mentioned in public and the western nation is left with questions about what and who is allowed to run in complex networks for years.
The trust is gone.

Re: "People everywhere in the world are trying to avoid buying"
Nations will just revert to paper, number stations and one time pads. Couriers, cults, faith, background investigations that interview friends, generations of family, teachers in person.
Other nations have systems and trusted staff to revert back to. Expecting junk computer networks to just keep producing real global intelligence was a wonderful boondoggle over decades.
The "most advanced espionage malware platforms ever studied" would then just find disinformation or limited hangouts been produced for the junk global networks :)

Yes the different systems get the drivers face, passengers face, front and/or rear vehicle registration plates.
Add in data about any cell phone :)

Re:"The first amendment has officially been shredded, and now comes the icing on the cake."
Anonymity and privacy for whistleblowers is gone with systems like Tempora https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The ability to track back any contact with a journalist removes all anonymity. The privacy of the message could be lost to malware.
GCHQ captured emails of journalists from top international media (19 jan 2015)
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-...
The US always thought it was legally covered with a free and unrestrained press.
Re "Nobody seems to know anything at all about any of these other programs"
The UK media could be the way to understand the tracking and results.