THE new head of Britain's electronic surveillance agency previously worked at the Northern Ireland Office for several years.
GCHQ director Robert Hannigan, pictured, was appointed as deputy director of communications at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) in 2000. He became director of communications the following year.
Mr Hannigan later held other senior positions at the NIO, including 'director general, political' in 2005.
In 2007 he became head of Security, Intelligence and Resilience at the Cabinet Office and was responsible for liaising between the intelligence services and British government.
After Revenue and Customs lost computer disks in 2007 containing confidential details of 25 million child benefit recipients, Mr Hannigan compiled a report into how the government handles data.
He moved to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as the director-general of defence and intelligence in 2010.
In 2013 he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2013 New Year Honours' list for services to national security.
Claire Simpson