That said, I really don't see how there could be an argument of an effective oversight, if what you are overseeing is so secret that you have no independent information on the subject matter. The secret organization (NSA in this case) is strongly incentivized to not disclose the entire truth or withhold key limitations in order to achieve its' objectives. If there is no way to independently verify that what is being said/committed to is actually functioning, court pretty much has to trust NSA to self-police. Everything here is being done on the NSA's terms and not the Courts or Congress's.