The General Commissariat of Information (, CGI) is an intelligence service within the
National Police Corps
The National Police Corps (, CNP; ; also known simply as the National Police, ) is the national civilian police, police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing is generally the responsibil ...
of
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
responsible for the collection, analysis and distribution of information relevant to domestic security, as well as its exploitation or operational use, especially in matters of
counterterrorism
Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and Intelligence agency, intelligence ...
, both nationally and internationally. It may be regarded as the Spanish equivalent of the United Kingdom's
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
.
It is colloquially named secret police, though in Spain the name of secret police is usually used to any police officer in plainclothes.
History
The General Commissariat of Information was created in November 1912 along with the Directorate-General for Security (currently
Directorate-General of the Police) as a "center where all the data and information from the national territory flows, related to the maintenance of general order and the prevention and prosecution of crimes (...)".
In 1939 it was renamed as General Commissariat of Information.
According to the agreements of the
Council of Ministers
Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...
, this service has the rank of secret, and his structure, budget, resources, procedures and agents can not be revealed.
TEDAX
From the General Commissariat of Information depends the special unit called TEDAX-NRBQ. TEDAX is the Spanish name for the units trained in
bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are disabled or otherwise rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated fun ...
.
See also
*
Civil Guard Information Service (
Civil Guard counterpart)
*
General Commissariat of Judiciary Police
The General Commissariat of Judiciary Police (, CGPJ) is an intelligence service within the National Police Corps of Spain responsible for the investigation of organized crime, Financial crime, economic and monetary crimes or cybercrime. CGPJ is ...
*
Spanish Intelligence Community
The Spanish Intelligence Community () is a group of intelligence organizations dependent on the Government of Spain that established themselves as an intelligence community through Law 11/2002. The intelligence community can be divided into three ...
*
National Intelligence Center
References
{{Authority control
1912 establishments in Spain
Government agencies established in 1912
National law enforcement agencies of Spain
Spanish intelligence agencies
Government agencies of Spain