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The director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), Paz Esteban, received this Friday a long and unanimous applause from her colleagues during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of this organization, one day after she appeared before the official secrets commission of Congress to account for political espionage.

This Friday marks the 20th anniversary of the creation of the CNI, which until then was the

Higher Defense Information Center

(Cesid), an event that, like every year, has been used to remember the members who have fallen in the exercise of their mission, sources from the center have told Efe.

A very emotional act in which, in addition, the pride of belonging to this State institution has been valued, currently in question due to the controversy over the espionage on the mobile phones of more than 60 pro-independence politicians, as well as those of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, through the Pegasus system.

Precisely to clarify this matter, the director of the CNI appeared this Thursday at the official secrets commission, in which she provided the deputies with the judicial authorizations to spy on twenty pro-independence politicians, including the current president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès .

This was indicated to Efe by sources familiar with the content of the meeting, who added that in her appearance the director of the CNI disassociated herself from the rest of the listeners, up to 65, denounced by the independence groups.

The open crisis as a result of the espionage with Pegasus, a spy program that, apparently, only States can buy, led to the suspension of the public event that was planned to be held on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the CNI.

A day in which they wanted to make this body, dependent on the

Ministry of Defence,

better known to the public and highlight its contribution to national security and the defense of the interests of Spain in an attempt to offer an image of " closeness" and "transparency", according to its director.

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  • CNI

  • Ministry of Defence

  • Pere Aragones

  • Pedro Sanchez

  • Margaret Oaks

  • Pegasus case