Akhtar Hassan Khan Gorchani will replace Aftab Sultan as chief of the Intelligence Bureau.
A formal notification was issued by the Establishment Division following Gorchani's appointment yesterday by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.
The appointment followed a recent reshuffle of top federal bureaucrats.
Official sources said the changes were part of Ashraf's efforts to bring in a new team of officials to replace those appointed by former Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Gorchani belongs to a political family and his son, Athar Gorchani, is a provincial legislator who joined the ruling Pakistan People's Party after being elected to the Punjab Assembly in 2008.