Comment by btilly

The government's position is that both Congress and the courts provide accountability here, and the reason for not being transparent is that they do not want the people who are being monitored to be aware of exactly what capabilities the USA does and does not have.

The rest of your argument is about reality as civil libertarians see it, and not how the government sees it. (Because, after all, they think that the briefing that Congress gets and the oversight of the FISA court is sufficient protection.)