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.

Glad more people are looking for, finding and understanding how crypto is in use :)

Consider the origins, contractors, new cash flows and other cell projects in the USA
CIA Worked With DOJ To Re-Purpose Foreign Surveillance Airborne Cell Tower Spoofers For Domestic Use (2015/03/10)
https://www.techdirt.com/artic...
"developed technology to locate specific cellphones in the U.S. through an airborne device that mimics a cellphone tower"
Products and services that was in use during the occupations and in other roles in South America are now back for domestic use and funding.
The only puzzle is how to keep the funding flowing at a city and state level.

If a journalist, citizen journalist, local lawyer gets to near some local towns paper, digital records about the costs or use of a device...
A Freedom of Information Act cant find records that got moved around the USA that night :)
Walk in requests by journalists, citizen journalists, local lawyers could find hardware funding or upgrade requests in that community.

For the next gen? It would give out an exact network like any other branded tower in the area.
A few pretty vans, trucks and your town has a new small cell tower. Connects on fast networks, all protocols as expected.
Is it a real tower or not? Who is paying to connect all the calls as a real telco would?
It still has to work as a normal tower for all devices connected over months?
That "nice software defined radio chip could create a nice monitoring network in your hometown" gets interesting :)

re "Like I think you're saying, the "need" comes from":
Why risk an unsafe court setting that can face a legal challenge? The new IMSI-catcher hardware could have been detected in an area.
The parallel construction may not hold up under legal questions in open court.
All law enforcement officials have to do is get rubber stamped court papers to watch over a person to build a case that will hold in any open court.
The need to keep IMSI-catcher like systems away from courts, cleared lawyers and trusted domestic telcos shows a lack of trust with the paper work when requesting such services?
Have the logging, tracking databases or telco staff leaked case details to outside groups?
So yes ""the perceived need of those implementing it"" seem to want their own telco IMSI-catcher network that only they can use or track with away from any oversight.