Union Cabinet's Appointments Committee, which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has appointed former Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Rajinder Khanna as the new Deputy National Security Adviser.

The appointment has been made on re-employment and on contractual basis, as per a communiqué issued in this regard by the Department of Personnel & Training. Khanna is a1978 RAW batch officer who has supervised many counter-insurgency operations. He is widely considered to be an expert on issues pertaining to Pakistan and Islamic terrorism.

Khanna is presently serving as OSD at the National Security Council's Secretariat in the national capital. Ajit Doval is the serving National Security Adviser who reports to the Prime Minister.

In a first of its kind, both the NSA and the DNSA are from security-related agencies as Doval had also served as the chief of Intelligence Bureau in the past.