not sure why you are so downvoted on this (maybe less drama next time) but more or less right.

More specifically though, the Snowden docs showed how the usa does this kind of stuff on a one-off basis.

Honestly, less drama, fair enough...but sadly it's not drama, it's fact albeit in small numbers, this 100% happened as we found out from Snowden docs and other leaks! That wasn't really the point i was trying to make though, and if it's happened or not doesn't really need to hold true for the basis of my comparison to hold true as a basis of english arguments.

Also, I gave up hunting karma on HN a while back, i'd rather speak my mind honestly than be artificially censored by chasing a number.

and IIRC, that it was/is the "preferred" method because it's easier to pull off/harder to detect than most other methods.