The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have tested countries' geostrategy. The information and means with which security officials work to ensure the prevention of threats have changed rapidly, as the speed of the introduction of new technologies, coupled with the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have forced to rethink strategies. In the case of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), the consummation of the digital transformation process has been carried out with a reorganization of its structure, creating Mission Centers to optimize its operation, guarantee coordination and communication between agencies.

The director of the Center, Esperanza Casteleiro, accompanied by Minister Margarita Robles, spoke about all this in a meeting with the press in which for the first time they have opened to the media the situation center, the room where major crises are treated and that Casteleiro has defined as "the cathedral of intelligence". It is a round room, with an important screen, in which there is a rectangular table and more than a hundred positions for workers. Also a screen in which the time zones necessary for their work appear: from Washington to Beijing.

With a perfectly organized security device, the temple of Spanish spies has opened its central office to more than 30 journalists, directed in three minibuses to its headquarters, in the national VI. Minister Robles has vindicated the more than three thousand agents of the Center -65.56% men-, who work throughout the day to "defend national interests" even putting "their lives at risk".

Arturo Relanzón, director of intelligence at the Center, reiterated that "times are changing very fast" and that the CNI's challenge is "to seek excellence and enhance talent retention." Thus, at the moment there are four areas in which the agents work: illegal immigration, focused on preventing migrants from leaving the areas of departure and dismantling cells of human traffickers. The Centre works with local intelligence services, especially in the Sahel and in Morocco, where they are doing "very intensive" work. Also in that area we work on counterterrorism, activity to prevent attacks in Spain or that terrorist operations in North Africa have consequences in our country. The third leg of their work is counterintelligence, a very specific and specialized branch of agents in which they try to identify hostile services and the activities they develop, to identify aggressions against Spanish interests. Finally, they focus on counterproliferation, that is, countries that are trying to develop unconventional nuclear, bacteriological, chemical weapons...

In the document distributed to the press, the CNI recognizes that "the aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation has further increased the pace of change" and that in this environment of "volatility" the Center must work. That is why these new specific units are important, which help prevent risks. One of the agents, who has remained anonymous, explained that the compartmentalization that previously helped discretion is now a burden. "If there had been no compartmentalization, some attacks could have been avoided," he said, referring to the secret services of other countries. Now, at the CNI, the "need-to-know principle is complemented by the need to share."

  • CNI
  • Ukraine
  • Africa
  • Margarita Robles

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