It's not the metadata versus other issue, it's internal versus external. The NSA specifically used to be outward focused, and cross-border. The details of the rules are and remain complex, but the general principle that COMSEC operations were about communications between and with foreigners was pretty clear.
That, specifically, is the cultural shift I'm talking about. The NSA, and some other agencies, are now apparently quite comfortable with conducting operations entirely within the nation, where formerly they were not.
There are problems inherent in having multiple law enforcement and spying agencies mucking about in one another's turf.