Defense, intelligence, policing, all these things exist in order to uphold the constitution, protect the "American ideals", etc. Many of his statements pretty directly show that he doesn't care about the collateral damage to innocent people's privacy or any founding principles, he just wants his mission to be unhindered. It's the same mentality behind police forces wanting to make their job less dangerous and more straightforward, by escalating use of force and trampling rights.
With this hypocrisy, as has come many times before (congress shocked and demanding privacy when the CIA spies on them, for instance)... I can only shake my head. Come on.
Encryption is our webcam tape.
They aren't particularly interested in the 'big picture'. They may say they are, they may think they are, but on a practical, day-to-day basis, it's irrelevant. They know the mission of their organizational unit, they know the goals that need to be accomplished to achieve that mission, they know the metrics they need to hit to advance within that organization, and they are adept at focusing their full attention and energy on whatever task is in front them that leads directly to those ends. It's a personality type that thrives in large organizations - government, private, whatever - and to a certain extent its necessary to make large organizations work, but the risk is that you end up with people wielding significant power who behave like wind-up dolls.