The study of intelligence oversight captures the inherently political nature of secret intelligence. However, many studies of intelligence oversight adopt rather instrumentalist views that omit important political aspects of the policy process. Typically, these studies focus on obstacles to effective oversight. This article discusses how the effectiveness of oversight can be assessed by applying broad evaluative categories that contain programmatic, process-related, political, and durability dimensions. Empirically, the study probes the case of Sweden as an illustration. Swedish oversight arrangements have on balance been successful in some dimensions, particularly the programmatic dimension, which arguably also contributed to its relative longevity