At the very least there are many circumstances where reporters who were reporting on pretty underhanded activities in the us were targeted by the us govt, and what if this situation happened to them. My govt is generally good here in the us, but we know plenty of cases where they didn't have good intentions, this is done to intimidate. So if you are an author of security software, you might keep this in mind. And other countries like Russia and China would definitely put pressure on people to help them.

I agree, the first thing he should have asked for is a warrant signed by a judge, and then independently verified it was real.