al-Qaida Top Threat

AP – FILE - In this July 20, 2010 file photo, Director of National Intelligence nominee James Clapper listens …

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper will testify today in front of the House Intelligence Committee. The number one priority is al-Qaida.

Amid criticism that intelligence services missed the signs of Arab revolt in Tunisia and Egypt, the nation's top intelligence official will tell Congress that the threat from al-Qaida and its affiliates remains his No. 1 priority, U.S. officials said.

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House Intelligence Committee members are expected to ask whether the intelligence community fumbled its analysis of the revolts in Egypt and Tunisia. The lawmakers received a classified briefing Tuesday on Egypt and other Middle East hotspots, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence.

The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Tuesday called the Egyptian and Tunisian revolts a "wake-up" for the intelligence community in an interview on MSNBC.

Last week, Feinstein and other senators questioned CIA official Stephanie O'Sullivan over whether the combined U.S. agencies had provided specific warnings that violence was about to unfold.

O'Sullivan said President Barack Obama was warned of instability in Egypt "at the end of last year." She was speaking at her confirmation hearing to become the deputy director of national intelligence, second in command to Clapper.