[golem14]

What does “not particularly good actors” mean in this context? Actors as in theater? Or “Bad actors” plotting evil things?

[shadowgovt]

Actors in a theater. I have no reason to believe they were pretending to be upset because the were actually spies and knew what was going on before Snowden's reveals came out. They were as surprised as everyone else; the NSA wiretapping was done off-prem in cable that was privately owned (but stretched hundreds of miles and was, therefore, practically undefendable against compromise).