No, I'm not. If the phone can be intercepted prior to delivery they can install hardware or software on it that serves their needs. I also told you that the NSA intercepts data at the carrier. Your article specifically refers to an order to Verizon, a carrier.
The NSA intercepted Meta data, the kind of data that passed through carriers. . . however, it is entirely possible, as security experts have claimed is possible, they did intercept Angela Merkel's iphone and installed a device in it, an exploit that requires physical possession of the device to compromise the built in security.. If so, then the fault should lie with her security people for not checking what she was using. They should have provided her a randomly purchased iphone.
It turns out the NSA was monitoring the phones of all GERMAN Chancellors since 2002, five years before the release of the iPhone. . . using signal intercept techniques. . . Either through the carriers, or more surreptitious means.
I suspect the NSA is using a surreptitious "man-in-the-middle" approach as more and more unaffiliated cell towers are being discovered located around the country, and perhaps the world. These spurious cellular towers act as normal towers, passing on calls, data, etc., but seems to not be connected to any carrier, yet could easily intercept what passes through before being passed on. Why not bypass the need for even secret blanket search warrants by merely grabbing it out of the air?
Your second link refers to an algorithm to decrypt Secure Socket Layer encryption used in Internet website traffic. . . the very thing we're talking about in what is EASY to decrypt and to place an unnoticed decryption algorithm into. Sorry. It's just not the same thing as 128 bit password encryption.