If you read the Spiegel article [1] where this quote comes from do you still think it's just a metaphor? I take the comment as snark, but also a troubling indicator of a depraved culture in some circles of the NSA.
I do still think there's the possibility that it's a metaphor.
As much as I don't like the recent news that's come out about the NSA, I also don't like to falsely manipulate people's words to give them a negative connotation. I don't like when it's done to me, so I try not to do it to others.
As an organization the NSA seems to have some issues, but I still hold that individuals are mostly good. I don't believe the person who wrote that had a mindset that most people are zombies.
[1]http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/how-the-nsa-spies-...