Esperanza Casteleiro Llamazares (born 18 December 1956) is a Spanish intelligence officer who has served as director of the National Intelligence Center since May 2022. She was previously Secretary of State for Defense from 2020 to 2022. Casteleiro has spent almost all of her career in the Spanish intelligence services, first in the Centro Superior de Información de la Defensa (CESID) and then in the National Intelligence Center (CNI). She also held important positions in the Ministry of Defense between 2018 and 2022, first as director of the cabinet of

minister of defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Margarita Robles, and then as secretary of state for defense.

Life

Casteleiro was born in Madrid on 18 December 1956. Her father, Antonio Casteleiro Naveiras, was a soldier from Mugardos, A Coruña, who served in the

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

during the

Franco era Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spa ...

. She studied Philosophy and Educational Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid, and she has taken various training courses in the fields of intelligence and human resources. She is considered an expert on

counterterrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that Government, governments, law enforcement, business, and Intelligence agency, intellig ...

and on the Maghreb region.

Career

In 1983, Casteleiro joined the Centro Superior de Información de la Defensa (CESID), which became the National Intelligence Center (CNI) in 2002. She has held various key positions in these agencies, including leading the counterintelligence division and the human resources management department at CNI. She has been deployed in foreign countries like Cuba and Portugal. In 2004 the government of

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections ...

, with José Bono as

, appointed her as secretary-general of the CNI, making her CNI director 's number two. She held the position for almost four years, and was succeeded in 2008 by , another agency veteran. After leaving the position of secretary-general, Casteleiro held other foreign intelligence positions. In 2014 she was appointed as head of the CNI intelligence unit in the Intelligence Center for Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), a position she held until June 2018, when she was appointed head of the cabinet of minister of defense Margarita Robles. In early 2020 she was reported to be a possible candidate to replace Félix Sanz Roldán as head of the CNI, but instead, the government appointed the agency's secretary-general at the time,

Paz Esteban López Paz Esteban López (born 1958) is a Spanish intelligence officer. She served as Director of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) from 2020 to 2022. She was the first woman to hold the post and was previously the Secretary-General of the agen ...

. Then in mid-2020, she was rumored to be a possible replacement for departing secretary of state for defense . She was appointed as secretary of state for defence on 1 July 2020. In a meeting on 10 May 2022, the Council of Ministers appointed her director of the CNI, replacing Paz Esteban López following the

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

spyware scandal.

Awards

* Silver crosses of the and the

Cross of Aeronautical Merit The Cross of Aeronautical Merit ( es, Cruces del Mérito Aeronáutico) is Spain's military award for gallantry or merit in the air. The award can be made in war or at times of peace. It is awarded to members of the Spanish Armed Forces, Guardia Civ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casteleiro, Esperanza Spanish spies 1956 births Living people Secretaries of State of Spain Spanish women Complutense University of Madrid alumni