From May 2009 to June 2018 he was the General Director of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies (IEEE) in the Higher Center for Defense Studies (CESEDEN).

Brigadier General of Artillery.

For the last three years, General Ballesteros Martín has been an associate professor in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid. He has also been a professor at the Pontifical University of Salamanca (Madrid Campus) for 17 years.

He holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences with 2015 extraordinary honors from the Pontifical University of Salamanca (Madrid Campus). He is a General Staff Diplomate. General Ballesteros Martín has a degree in Operational Research from the University of Valencia. He has taken specialization courses in strategic studies at the University of Distance Education in Spain, at the NATO School in Germany and at the NATO College (NADEFCOL) in Rome.

He has also taken Helios satellite system specialization courses in Paris and Toulouse. General Ballesteros Martín holds a diploma in Fire-Control Systems and Detection and Location of Targets.

In addition to assignments as a field artillery and anti-aircraft officer, he has been stationed at the Ministry of Defence’s Military Operational Research Centre, in the Intelligence Division of the Defence Joint Staff. He was the first head of the Helios Satelite Center in Spain. The General was also Head of the Department of Strategy and International Relations of the College of the Armed Forces (ESFAS) of the Higher Center for Defense Studies (CESEDEN).

He is the author of two books: "En busca de una Estrategia de Seguridad Nacional” (Publicaciones Defensa, Madrid, 2016) and "Yihadismo” (Editorial la Huerta Grande, Madrid 2016).

He also coauthored 33 collective books or papers, and has published numerous articles in specialized journals and newspapers such as El País, ABC and La Razón.