Today’s the day for confirmation hearings into John Negroponte’s nomination as National Intelligence Director(NYTimes). Negroponte has a somewhat chequered past, parlaying a career in the murky pond of Latin American / US relations (El Salvador, Nicaragua) into that of senior ambassador in the Bush administration, firstly to the United Nations (2001-4) and more recently to Iraq.

What will the Senate Select Intelligence Committee have to say about this controversial figure taking the newly created role of keystone for the American Intelligence establishment? Find out on the wonderful US politics channel C-Span, which I have just found out is streamed live over the interweb (though picture quality is rather shaky). The hearings start at 10am Eastern time, which is about 3pm British Summer Time.