> Nothing similar exists in, for example, France, Russia, China, or India.
Not true. France does have an Intelligence Committee ("Délégation parlementaire au renseignement"). And there is a control organism like the FISA Courts ("Commission nationale de contrôle des interceptions de sécurité"); while legally their decisions are only consultative, in practice the government almost always respects them. And it denies between 1% and 2% of requests, whereas the FISA only denies 0.03%.
However I'm no expert, so I can't say how much power or independance they actually have.
Not true. France does have an Intelligence Committee ("Délégation parlementaire au renseignement"). And there is a control organism like the FISA Courts ("Commission nationale de contrôle des interceptions de sécurité"); while legally their decisions are only consultative, in practice the government almost always respects them. And it denies between 1% and 2% of requests, whereas the FISA only denies 0.03%.
However I'm no expert, so I can't say how much power or independance they actually have.
You can read their annual reports (in French):
http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/rapports-publics/1440... http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/connaissance/delegation_re...