Relief in the direction of the Department of Homeland Security. This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved the appointment of Brigadier General Loreto Gutiérrez Hurtado, as the new director of National Security, replacing Miguel Ángel Ballesteros, as confirmed by government sources.
Last August, Loreto Gutiérrez Hurtado became the fourth woman in the Armed Forces to be promoted to generalship in Spain. In 2019, the current Major General Patricia Ortega, of the Corps of Polytechnic Engineers of the Army, did so. In 2021, she was promoted to general auditor Begoña Aramendía, of the Military Legal Corps, and the third was on July 14, María Teresa Gordillo, of the Military Intervention Corps.
Born in 1970, she is an Aeronautical Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. She entered the General Air Academy in 1996. Among the different assignments she has held, it is worth highlighting the Engineering and Quality Section of the 35th Wing, at the Getafe Air Base; the Maintenance Directorate of the EA Logistics Support Command; the Armament and Material Directorate as technical director of the A400M and MRTT (multipurpose transport aircraft/tanker) programs and the Plans Division of the EA General Staff.
In addition, he has participated in various detachments abroad in Indonesia, Afghanistan and Chad, peacekeeping operations for which he was awarded merit badges. Among the courses it has include the General Staff of the Armed Forces, High Logistics Management, Program Management or Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Incidents and Environmental Management, as well as the international course Air Battle Damage Repair.
The new director of the Department of Homeland Security has several decorations, such as the Cross and Commendation of the Royal and Military Order of San Hermenegildo, four Crosses of Aeronautical Merit with a white badge, the NATO ISAF Medal, the European Policy Service Medal of Security and Defense and Commemorative Medal of 'Operation Balmis'.
The Minister Spokesperson of the Government, Pilar Alegría, highlighted in the press conference after the Council of Ministers that Loreto Gutiérrez is one of the four women with the job of general in the military career and that she will be the first to occupy this high responsibility in the security structure of the State.
Alegría has expressed the confidence of the Executive chaired by Pedro Sánchez that Gutiérrez Hurtado "does his job magnificently" in National Security, as General Ballesteros has done so far, who is leaving office due to retirement.
For this reason, the Government spokesperson wanted her first words to be of gratitude to Ballesteros for his "impeccable career of service in favor of his country." In this sense, she recalled that he has had to face "absolutely unprecedented" situations such as the crisis in Afghanistan, the Covid-19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine.
