Secretary of State for Defence (Spain)

The Secretary of State for Defence (SEDEF) is the second-highest-ranking official in the Ministry of Defence of Spain. The SEDEF is a civilian which is appointed by the King with the advice of the Defence Minister. In spite of being the second authority of the Ministry, it is behind the Chief of the Defence Staff as far as military control is concerned.

Secretary of State for Defence
Secretario de Estado de Defensa
Coat of Arms used by the Government
Incumbent Amparo Valcarce since 11 May 2022
Ministry of Defence
Style	The Most Excellent (formal) Mr./Ms. Secretary of State (informal)
Abbreviation	SEDEF
Reports to	Minister of Defence
Seat	Ministry of Defence HQ, Paseo de la Castellana no. 109
Nominator	Minister of Defence
Appointer	The King
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	Royal Decree 135/1984
Precursor	Undersecretary of Defence
Formation	January 25, 1984
First holder	Eduardo Serra Rexach
Salary	€ 113,166.19 per year[1]
Website	defensa.gob.es

The duties of the SEDEF are related to management and control of the economic resources, the armament policy and the defence infraestructures.

The current Secretary of State for Defence, since May 11, 2022, is Ms. Amparo Valcarce, former Undersecretary of Defence.^[2]

Functions

The current functions are regulated by a Royal Decree of 2024, and are the following:^[3]

The Secretary of State for Defense is the highest body of the Department responsible for the direction, promotion and management of weapons and material policies, and for the research, development and industrial, economic, infrastructure, environmental and systems, technologies and security of information innovation in the field of Defence.

Apart from these, SEDEF can carry out all those functions delegated to it by the Minister of Defense.

Structure

From the Secretary of State for Defence depends:^[3]

• The Directorate-General for Strategy and Innovation of the Defense Industry (DIGIED).

  It is responsible for designing the national defense industrial strategy, planning weapons and material and R&D&I policies, as well as helping the internationalization of Spanish companies.

• The Directorate-General for Armament and Material (DGAM).

  It is the department responsible for the planning and development of the armament and material policy of the Ministry, as well as the supervision and direction of its execution.

• The Directorate-General for Economic Affairs (DIGENECO).

  It is the governing body responsible for the planning and development of the economic and financial policy of the Ministry, as well as the supervision and direction of its execution.

• The Directorate-General for Infrastructure (DIGENIN).

  It is the body responsible for the planning and development of the infrastructure, environmental and energy policies of the Ministry, as well as the supervision and direction of its execution.

• The Centre for Systems and Technologies of the Information and Communications.

  To which corresponds the planning and development of the policies of the systems, technologies and information security of the Department, as well as the supervision and direction of its execution. For these purposes, the competent bodies in the aforementioned matters of the Armed Forces and the autonomous agencies of the Department depend functionally on this center.

Insignia of the Military Constructions Service

The following agencies also depends from the SEDEF:

• The National Institute for Aerospace Technology.

  It is the defense agency in charge of research and technological development in the fields of aeronautics, space, hydrodynamics, security and defense. It is commonly considered as Spain's Space Agency, but Spain has not have a Space Agency.

• The Institute for Housing, Infrastructure and Defense Equipment.

  It is the agency of the Ministry of Defense responsible for administering the assets of the ministry as well as ensuring that all military personnel and their families have a place to live.

  • The Military Constructions Service.

    It is a department of the Institute for Housing, Infrastructure and Defense Equipment responsible for the construction of military installations and other constructions of national security interest.

List of secretaries of state

Before this office was created, all its duties were carried out by the Undersecretary of Defence.

No.	Image	Name	Term of office			Ministers of Defence serving under:	Prime Minister appointed by:
			Began	Ended	Days of service
1st		Eduardo Serra Rexach	9 February 1984	18 July 1987	1255	Narcís Serra i Serra	Felipe González
2nd		Rafael de la Cruz Corcoll	23 April 1988	12 October 1991	1267	Narcís Serra i Serra Julián García Vargas
3rd		José Miguel Hernández Vázquez	12 October 1991	3 October 1992	357	Julián García Vargas
4th		Antonio Flos Bassols	10 October 1992	29 April 1995	931	Julián García Vargas
5th		Juan Ramón García Secades	8 July 1995	11 May 1996	308	Julián García Vargas Gustavo Suárez Pertierra
6th		Pedro Morenés	25 May 1996	6 May 2000	1442	Eduardo Serra Rexach	José María Aznar
7th		Fernando Díez Moreno	6 May 2000	20 April 2004	1445	Federico Trillo
8th		Francisco Pardo Piqueras	20 April 2004	21 April 2007	1096	José Bono José Antonio Alonso	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
9th		Soledad López Fernández	21 April 2007	15 April 2008	360	José Antonio Alonso
10th		Constantino Méndez Martínez	15 April 2008	31 December 2011	1355	Carme Chacón Piqueras Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
11th		Pedro Argüelles Salaverría	6 January 2012	19 November 2016	1779	Pedro Morenés	Mariano Rajoy
12th		Agustín Conde Bajén	19 November 2016	9 June 2018	567	María Dolores de Cospedal
13th		Ángel Olivares Ramírez[4]	9 June 2018	24 June 2020	746	Margarita Robles	Pedro Sánchez
14th		Esperanza Casteleiro[5]	1 July 2020	11 May 2022	679
15th		Amparo Valcarce	11 May 2022	Incumbent	1174