More than ever before, oversight of the secretive world of intelligence is critically important.

Programs are authorized, money is spent, and operations are carried out in the name of the American people, yet only a few members of Congress are even allowed to know what is happening in the dark corners of these U.S. intelligence programs.

Most of Congress was surprised to learn that the U.S. government was collecting all of our phone records in bulk. Most of what our intelligence community does is shielded from the rank and file of Congress. Only eight legislators are privy to the full extent of the surveillance state.

Under oath, the former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress about the existence of the bulk collection of Americans' phone records. Without the revelations of Edward Snowden, this gross violation of privacy might still remain unknown.