Oversight is often adversarial and critical.
For instance, congressional panels may conduct investigations, hold public hearings, require reports from the executive, or commission a study in reaction to complaints, criticisms, opposition, or abuses surrounding a program, operation, agency, or official. Oversight, however, can be supportive, as, for instance, when it helps to bolster a program or agency threatened by budget cuts or to prevent another agency from intruding on its domain or mission. The importance of oversight for democratic government and the legislature's responsibilities has been noted by authorities on United States government and other democratic regimes. No one gave it a higher standing than John Stuart Mill, the British philosopher. Wilson noted that oversight had increased, in part because of developments in the executive and in part because of Congress' own evolution.