The US can go back to Project MINARET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...
Project SHAMROCK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...
The US like the UK has always had an interest in all communications internally and beyond the USA, UK.
The good news is this is now in the open and generations of crypto experts can finally understand the collaboration between mil/gov and the big telcos.

The US gov reaches out to the bank used. If that bank fails to act then any other bank interconnects to the bank a person of interest uses become interesting.
The accounts are isolated. The bank used is isolated. Any other banks connecting to the bank with the account are isolated.
With the use of ideas like Section 311 the USA Patriot Act account holders and their banks can be traced.
The international financial system then has to select between that isolated bank or U.S. regulators.
The other option is to entice a person of interest to a third country to face rendition.

Re "Those with above secret clearance, who live normal lives, and those without it, who are lied to and treated like "
Thats the new security boondoggle that gets funding and contracts flowing. The seduction of needing a new security clearance.
People in the gov, mil and contractors have seen a huge expansion of their bureaucratic access under a "collect it all" system.
What has changed? The US domestic legal system has now seen more interest by the public asking basic privacy questions since the Church Committee/report days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
A person looking to work for the gov/mil or as a contractor now fully understands that they will be working on domestic generational trap doors, back doors, in collaboration with the big domestic computer brands and with foreign powers.
Collect it all, sort it all. The domestic jobs are waiting... who did you spy on today?

They had great pride in active missile decoy work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N... and over-the-horizon radar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...
Now it will be all about tracking online comments and finding who in Australia posted a dual use paragraph.

Re "Next they'll outlaw talking about"
One time pad encryption would {#`%${%&`+'${`%&NO CARRIER

The "critical infrastructure results in operators overlooking weaknesses in their systems" is to be expected with the removal of local staff on site 24/7 replaced by automated or vast networked systems.
That reduced expensive union staff and allowed a smaller set of skilled workers to do the jobs of many. Great for profits as paying for less workers but the huge networks used might not always be dedicated and hardened or secure.
So vast amounts of maintenance, observation and operational use is expected to move along random networks.
In the past a real person doing shift work sat at a site and had control using a closed network. Now that network might reach a tri state area on many different networks with years of code and complexity.
The huge amounts of cash floating around after incidents is the new boondoggle. The networks need fixing, upgrading and a new cyber bureaucracy can point to cyber intrusions to get more political power, budget growth.
The real fix is in more maintenance, more staff and the correct use of real internal networks.
Working, well understood critical infrastructure is not difficult. Nations around the world can secure their own sites. Low quality networks over vast areas is not the best way to keep thinking about the issue.

The idea goes back to the 1950's with flights been worked out in the early 1990's.
In the 1950's it "accomplish" the different sides talking and working on the ideas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... is new but the idea goes back decades.
""mutual aerial observation" was initially proposed to Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin at the Geneva Conference of 1955 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower"
So the use flights can have "video, optical panoramic and framing cameras for daylight photography, infra-red line scanners for a day/night capability, and synthetic aperture radar for a day/night all weather capability" with 'Imagery resolution is limited to 30 centimetres".
So what can been seen helps "enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants".
"international efforts to date promoting openness and transparency of military forces and activities" is another way of saying counting what is out in the open.
Tanks in rows, aircraft parked, sites of interest. An old idea, many normal flights other the years by different nations. Nothing really new or interesting since the 1990's for Open Skies.
Lots of nations also use the international airspace for complex spy flights as they have done since the 1950's.

re " I am legally required to install a backdoor onto my network and computers in order to get any online connectivity at all."
The products that ship from the big international brands seems to be helping with the decades of tame crypto, telco networks and junk standards.
The UK has a long history of that going back to ww1, ww2, Ireland and for domestic issues.
All a person can do is be aware of the quality of crypto offered to the public, the OS and telco network collaboration.
The backdoors and trapdoors are installed by default by the brand offering the products or services.

A lot of nations will bait the Western networks with Operation Mincemeat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O...
or Operation Fortitude http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O...
With Western signals intelligence been so good, automated and in everything as shipped, why not just have crews feeding the networks from vast fake bureaucracies using trusted US branded computer imports.
The West needs, wants and has enjoyed total signals intelligence over the decades, why not just create a digital network just to feed the US and UK with 24/7?
Lots of internal digital chatter about a few billions $ in contracts could be created. Load it up with hints about what China, Russia and the EU can offer :)

It not hard to be keep reading on what the security services have done to crypto, compliers, shipped hardware, OS, telcos and networks.
The big brands are helping, not able to fix, do not want to fix or in collaboration with the security services to ship tame, back door, trap door products.
If the shipped, offered or rented compiler is adding extra code or making applications that are open to network intrusion then people can also select other more tested products.
Divest from the tame big brand junk. Start looking for and helping better products.

Re" That makes me sad because I work with these tools. I can assume my systems are all pwned at this point and act accordingly..."
Yes write any messages on paper, covert to a one time pad and then enter that into the compromised hardware, software, OS, crypto and network.
Consider future hardware and software buying re tame brands and their help with the world wide wiretap.

It depends on who can be found to enter a computer network?
Another group could be used as a cut out to act as an internet agent provocateur.
A charismatic leader in a chatroom could be anyone who has a suggestion. The data ends up with gov handlers who turned or created the "group" used.