The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have put countries' geostrategy to the test. The information and means with which those responsible for security work to guarantee the prevention of threats have changed at a forced march, since the rapidity of the introduction of new technologies, added to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have forced them to rethink the 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 the agencies.

The director of the Center, Esperanza Casteleiro, accompanied by Minister Margarita Robles, spoke about all of this in a meeting with the press in which, for the first time, the situation center was opened to the media, the room where major crises are dealt with. 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 showing the time zones needed for his work: 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, on the VI national highway.. 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, Secretary General of the Center, reiterated that “times are changing very quickly” and that the challenge of the CNI is to “seek excellence and promote talent retention”.. Thus, at the moment there are four areas in which the agents work: illegal immigration, focused on ensuring that migrants do not leave the areas of departure and on dismantling cells of human traffickers. The Center works with the local intelligence services, especially in the Sahel and in Morocco, where they are doing “very intense” work.. Counterterrorism is also being worked on in that area, an 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 carry out, to identify attacks on Spanish interests.. Finally, they focus on counterproliferation, i.e. countries that are trying to develop non-conventional nuclear, bacteriological, chemical weapons…

In the document distributed to the press, the INF 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, which help to prevent risks, are important. 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.”