Paz Esteban López

Paz Esteban López
Director of the National Intelligence Centre
In office
February 5, 2020  May 11, 2022
Acting: July 6, 2019 – February 5, 2020
MonarchFelipe VI
PresidentPedro Sánchez
Preceded byFélix Sanz Roldán
Succeeded byEsperanza Casteleiro
Secretary-General of the National Intelligence Center
In office
June 13, 2017  February 5, 2020
DirectorFélix Sanz Roldán
Preceded byBeatriz Méndez de Vigo
Succeeded byArturo Relanzón Sánchez-Gabriel
Personal details
Born1958
Madrid, Spain
EducationAutonomous University of Madrid

Paz Esteban López (born 1958) is a Spanish intelligence officer. She served as Director of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) from 2020 to 2022. She was the first woman to hold the post and was previously the Secretary-General of the agency from 2017 to 2019, under Félix Sanz Roldán. In 2022, she was removed from her position as CNI director following revelations, which came to be known as CatalanGate, where various national and regional politicians had been targeted by phone tapping through Pegasus spyware.