In 2022, she was removed from her position as CNI director following revelations, which came to be known as CatalanGate, where various national and regional politicians had been targeted by phone tapping through Pegasus spyware.

[5] She joined the Superior Centre for Defense Information (CESID) in 1983 when General Emilio Alonso Manglano was director.

The impossibility of forming a government provoked that the Prime Minister could not renew the director for a new term or to nominate a new candidate.

[12] Due to this situation, Esteban, who was the Secretary-General of the CNI and, therefore, the agency's second authority, assumed the direction ad interim of the intelligence service, being the first woman to hold the post.

[16] On February 19 the central government appointed Arturo Relanzón Sánchez-Gabriel as the new secretary-general of the agency, being the first man to hold the position.

[17][18] On May 10, 2022, Esteban was dismissed as director of the CNI by the Spanish government following revelations that several national and regional politicians had been the target of phone tapping using the controversial Pegasus spyware.