The heads of US intelligence agencies have been testifying before a congressional committee on issues regarding threats to the country's national security.
Recent political revolts have exposed the failure of intelligence services to timely alert the White House about the situations in Egypt and Tunisia.
Questions have emerged as to how the intelligence services were less well informed than people on Facebook and Twitter about the spirit of revolution enveloping the Middle East.
Al Jazeera's John Terrett reports.
Content on this website is for general information purposes only. Your comments are provided by your own free will and you take sole responsibility for any direct or indirect liability. You hereby provide us with an irrevocable, unlimited, and global license for no consideration to use, reuse, delete or publish comments, in accordance with Community Rules & Guidelines and Terms and Conditions.