The army acts as defence against the enemy. In a peaceful country, like Switzerland, which somehow managed to stay out of known military involvement of its army. In others, like the US, UK and Australia, it as well an attack force against the enemy.  When the military gets engaged against citizens of the country they ostensibly defend, then citizens have become enemies of the state. Not that's a big surprise, as the mild reactions of politicians about the PRISM scandal indicate.  From the description of what happened the involvement of the army didn't make much tactical sense. As a strategy for habitualisation it could work well. Are humans smarter than frogs in a pot that's heated up? Will we jump out before we get cooked?