Back in July of 2008, GlaxoSmithkline hired a lawyer by the name of Dan Troy and made him the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the company. The interesting part of that hire was that Troy, at one time, was formerly Chief Counsel for the US Food and Drug Administration, where he served as a primary liaison to the White House and the US Department of Health and Human Services. On August 20, 2001 President Bush appointed Daniel Troy to be Chief Counsel of the Food and Drug Administration. Previously, civil servants held this position. Troy was the first political appointee to the FDA post.