Former Ambassador to the US (2007 to 2012) Sir Nigel Sheinwald was appointed to the post on 19 September 2014, shortly before the Rifkind report on the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby had been issued to public view. This role was announced by the PM David Cameron when he set out the government’s plans to introduce emergency legislation to preserve data retention and investigation powers (the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014) in July 2014, however, no mention is made of the post in the legislation.