Esperanza Casteleiro

Esperanza Casteleiro
Director of the National Intelligence Center
Assumed office
11 May 2022
PresidentPedro Sánchez
Preceded byPaz Esteban López
Secretary of State for Defense
In office
1 July 2020 – 11 May 2022
Preceded byÁngel Olivares [es]
Succeeded byAmparo Valcarce [es]
Secretary-general of the National Intelligence Center
In office
28 September 2004 – 21 June 2008
Preceded byMaría Dolores Vilanova Alonso
Succeeded byElena Sánchez Blanco [es]
Personal details
Born (1956-12-18) 18 December 1956 (age 67)
Madrid, Spain
EducationComplutense University of Madrid
ProfessionIntelligence officer

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