Jose Luis Perez Pajuelo

• Director General
• National Center for Critical Infrastructure Protection (Ministry of Interior)

Lieutenant Colonel of the Guardia Civil. 24 years of experience in the field of security, specializing in the protection and resilience of strategic infrastructure and facilities.

Prior to his current position, he held positions for several years in the General Staff of the Guardia Civil’s Deputy Operational Directorate, the Central Unit of Judicial Police, and Guardia Civil territorial units.

In addition to his military career, he holds two University Degrees, in Law, and Business Administration. He also has several master’s degrees and postgraduate courses and is a certified Security Director.

In his current position, he serves as coordinator for the development of Spanish regulations on the Resilience of Critical Entities (derived from European Directive 2022/2557), which he directs in his drafting capacity as head of the working group established for this purpose. He has also been a member and chaired the Working Group of the Council of the European Union responsible for drafting this Directive and has participated in the development of various National Strategies and their derived planning. He has also participated, on behalf of Spain, in discussions within the Council and the European Commission on the drafting of various standards and protocols, such as the ” Blueprint on a coordinated response to disruptions of critical infrastructure with significant cross border relevance”, known as the European Blueprint for Critical Infrastructure.

He is Secretary of the National Commission for the Critical Infrastructure Protection, and Chairman of the Interministerial Working Group for the Critical Infrastructure Protection, as well as the Spanish state’s point of contact with the European Union on this matter, regularly participating in various national and international working groups in this field. He is also a member of the Ministry of Interior’s Special Committee on Energy Security, advisory body to the National Security Council.

Among other professional courses, he has completed the course for Senior Specialist in Judicial Police, Senior Intelligence Officer, and Military Degree in ICT Management and Information Security, as well as other national and international courses developed at the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation; the National School of Civil Protection; the European Police College; Europol; the FBI; and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

He has participated in several international projects with the European Union and has received various military and civil decorations.

He is co-author of the book “Intelligence and its Current Relationship with Security” (2018). He is also the author of various publications and articles related to his field of expertise, and regularly collaborates in the teaching of different courses and masters related to defense and security, organized by different university centers, and has participated as speaker in various courses at the Higher Center for Defense Studies. He also frequently participates in numerous conferences and seminars, both national and international, mainly in the field of security and the protection of infrastructure and resilience of critical entities.