Director of the National Intelligence Centre (Spain)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Director of the National Intelligence Centre
CNIescudoespaña2.svg
Seal of the National Intelligence Centre
Director-cni Esteban.jpg
Incumbent
Paz Esteban López
since February 5, 2020
National Intelligence Centre
Reports toPrime Minister
Minister of Defence
SeatPadre Huidobro Avenue, S/N, Madrid
AppointerMonarch
with the Minister of Defence countersignature
Term length5 years, no terms limit
Constituting instrumentNational Intelligence Centre Act of 2002
PrecursorDirector of the Superior Defense Information Centre
FormationMay 6, 2002
First holderJorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo
DeputySecretary-General of the National Intelligence Centre
Websitewww.cni.es

The Director of the National Intelligence Centre, officially Secretary of State-Director of the National Intelligence Centre (SED) is the head of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), the main intelligence agency of Spain. The SED is appointed by the Monarch at the proposal of the Minister of Defense after deliberation by the Council of Ministers.[1] He or she is the main advisor to the prime minister and to the defence minister in matters of intelligence and counterintelligence.

As head of the Spanish intelligence services, the SED is responsible for promoting the agency's actions and coordinating its units to achieve the intelligence objectives set by the central government, ensuring the adequacy of the Centre's activities to these objectives and displaying the representation of that.[1]

He or she also prepares the CNI budget; appoints and separates staff; establishes the necessary relationships with public and private entities, with the law enforcement agencies and with the civil and military administrations for the proper development of the activities of the Centre and the SED also heads the National Cryptologic Center.[1] Furthermore, he or she is the only official competent of the CNI to authorize its personnel to use firearms.[2]

The Secretary of State-Director is legally considered as the National Intelligence and Counterintelligence Authority.[3] He or she is also member of the National Security Council and the National Defense Council.[4]

History[]

The history of Spain has made it difficult for decades for the intelligence services to articulate themselves as a truly useful organ for governments. The first services date back to 1935 during the Second Republic, but the Civil War prevented its development and even during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, although these services existed, they were too many, without coordination and each one trying to assume a more leading role than the other.

It was not until 1977, after the first democratic elections, that the prime minister Adolfo Suárez decided to unify the Central Documentation Service (SECED), the Information Service of the Presidency of the Government (SIPG) and the Third Information Section (military intelligence) of the Defence High Command giving rise to the Superior Defense Information Center (CESID). To head this agency it was created the position of Director of the Superior Defense Information Center, a position held by both civilian and military personnel.

In 2002 the current position appears with the creation of the National Intelligence Centre, and it is occupied by the previous director of CESID, Jorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo who stayed in office until 2004, being replaced by another civilian, Alberto Saiz Cortés, until 2009 when Army General Félix Sanz Roldán was appointed.[5] Roldán hold the office for two terms, until in 2019 when he ceased as director after the end of his term and assumed his duties on an interim basis Paz Esteban López , the agency's Secretary-General.[6] Esteban was confirmed as director in February 2020.[7]

Accountability[]

Parliamentary control[]

The Director of the CNI, as head of the agency, is accountable before the Congress of Deputies's committee that supervises the State Secrets. This special committee is chaired by the President of the Congress of Deputies and its deliberations are not public.

This committee has access to classified information, with the exception of those related to the sources and means of the National Intelligence Centre and to those that come from foreign intelligence services or international organizations in the terms established in the corresponding agreements and exchange agreements of the classified information. All the documents can be analyzed by the members of that commission but, once examined, they will be returned to the National Intelligence Centre for proper custody, without originals, copies or reproductions being retained.[1]

Before this committee, the Secretary of State-Director must also present an annual report on the evaluation of activities, situation and degree of compliance with the intelligence objectives established by the Government of the Nation.[1]

Judicial control[]

The CNI's actions are legally regulated by an Organic Act and judicially controlled by a special magistrate of the Supreme Court.

When the SED has to authorize operations that affect the inviolability of the home and the secrecy of communications, it must request authorization from the competent magistrate of the Supreme Court who will respond within 72 hours. If the SED duly justifies reasons for urgency, the period can be reduced to 24 hours. The law also establishes that all the non-relevant information obtained through this judicial authorization must be immediately destroyed.[8]

Deputy[]

In the cases of the director's absence, vacancy or illness, the Secretary-General of the National Intelligence Centre will replace him.

The main functions of the Secretary-General are to support and assist the Director of the National Intelligence Centre in the exercise of his or her functions, to establish mechanisms and organization systems of the agency and to determine the necessary actions for its updating and improvement, to direct the operation of the common services of the agency through the corresponding instructions and service orders, to perform the senior leadership of the agency's personnel, to prepare the relationship proposal of jobs and to determine the vacant positions to fill during each year.[1]

List of secretaries of state-directors[]

To see the predecessors, see Centro Superior de Información de la Defensa#Directors. Since its creation in 2002, the agency has had three directors; two civilians and one military.

  Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
  People's Party (Spain)
  Denotes an Acting Director of the National Intelligence Centre
No. Image Name Start End Time in office Prime Minister(s) served under
1º (Jorge Dezcallar) Carme Chacón at the Pentagon in Washingon, DC, USA (cropped).jpg Jorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo
(1945–) 		May 11, 2002 April 20, 2004 1 year, 345 days José María Aznar
2º CNIescudoespaña2.svg
(1953–) 		April 20, 2004 July 6, 2009 5 years, 77 days José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
3º General Félix Sanz Roldán.jpg Félix Sanz Roldán
(1945–) 		July 6, 2009 July 6, 2019 10 years, 0 days
Mariano Rajoy
Pedro Sánchez
4º Director-cni Esteban.jpg Paz Esteban López
(1958–) 		July 6, 2019 February 5, 2020 214 days
February 5, 2020 Incumbent 2 years, 47 days

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "National Intelligence Centre Act of 2002". boe.es. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  2. ^ "Royal Decree 240/2013, of April 5, which approves the Staff Statute of the National Intelligence Center". boe.es. Archived from the original on October 7, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  3. ^ "National Security Act of 2015". boe.es. Archived from the original on October 22, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  4. ^ "Royal Decree 1310/2007, of October 5, which regulates the operating regime of the National Defense Council and the composition and functions of the Interministerial Defense Committee". boe.es. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  5. ^ "Royal Decree 1091/2009, of July 3, by which Mr. Félix Sanz Roldán is appointed Secretary of State Director of the National Intelligence Centre". boe.es. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  6. ^ "Paz Esteban, primera mujer que dirige los servicios de Inteligencia de España". abc (in Spanish). July 5, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  7. ^ "Royal Decree 266/2020, February 4, by which Doña Paz Esteban López is appointed Secretary of State Director of the National Intelligence Centre". boe.es. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  8. ^ "Organic Law 2/2002, of May 6, regulating the prior judicial control of the National Intelligence Center". boe.es. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
Retrieved from ""