> They've made America look quite incompetent the past decade or so
This itself is American propoganda; the strategy is to be absolutely all over your opponents, knowing that they can't complain about it for fear of looking weak, while complaining loudly about how their meagre attempts are the end of the world, getting public and Congressional support for more spending.
Before the Snowden leaks, someone suggesting the US had the SIGINT capacities they actually did have would have be laughed out of serious circles as a crank, and you better believe they haven't been sat still over the 8 years since.