On her watch, seven Pakistani private companies were added to a list of entities barred from purchasing sensitive technology without a license, which they will be rarely granted

The White House has announced Mira Ricardel, a senior official in the department of commerce, as the next deputy national security adviser.

Ricardel has served three administrations and is currently undersecretary for export administration, heading the Bureau of Industry and Security. The bureau, on her watch, added seven Pakistani private companies to a list of entities barred from purchasing sensitive technology without a license, which they will be rarely granted.

That designation is likely to imperil Pakistan's ambition to join elite groups of nations that closely control trading insensitive dual-use technology and nuclear equipment and fuel for a long time.

“I selected her as deputy national security adviser because her expertise is broad-based and includes national security matters related to our alliances, defence posture, technology security, foreign security assistance, and arms control,” National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a statement.

“Her policy-making and inter-agency experience will make her a great addition to the National Security Council,” he added.

Ricardel is known in Washington DC national security circles as someone who is “favourably disposed towards India”

She is one of Bolton’s first senior-level hirings, and comes after a spate of departures from the national security team. Among them were Tom Bossert, homeland security advisers and leading White House expert on counter-terrorism, deputy NSA Nadia Schadlow, who wrote President Trump’s national security strategy, and NSC spokesperson Michael Anton.

Ricardel’s resume includes stints as acting assistant secretary of defence for international security policy, and deputy assistant secretary of defence for Eurasia.

At the department of defence, “she played a central role in building support for United States and coalition operations in Afghanistan following the attacks of September 11, 2001,” the White House said in a statement.

Ricardel joined the Trump Transition Team as head of its defence wing, and after the president’s inauguration, joined the White House to lead the Office of Presidential Personnel, which is charged with staffing up nearly 4,000 federal government positions that need to be filled by every new administration.

Ricardel had also served Republican senator Bob Dole’s presidential committee as defence and foreign policy adviser, after seven years as legislative assistant for foreign policy and defence in the Senate Republican Leader’s Office.

In between, Ricardel did a stint in the private sector, working for Boeing for nine years.