Secretariat of Intelligence
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Secretariat of Intelligence ( es, Secretaría de Inteligencia, SIDE) was the premier
intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objective ...
of the
Argentine Republic Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and head of its National Intelligence System. Chaired by the ''Secretary of State Intelligence'' who is a special member of the
Cabinet of Ministers A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries ...
, the Secretariat of Intelligence was a technical and operational service charged with the collection and production of
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
and
counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
in internal and foreign areas, as well as the analysis and formation of a national intelligence strategy in order to handle state affairs. The Secretariat was charged with the duty of producing a complete
intelligence cycle The Intelligence cycle describes how intelligence is ideally processed in civilian and military intelligence agencies, and law enforcement organizations. It is a closed path consisting of repeating nodes, which (if followed) will result in finish ...
for the government. Structurally, S.I. had the biggest intelligence gathering capabilities in Argentina, as it counts with numerous delegations within
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
as well as foreign operational bases and delegations. Under the law, the Secretariat was subordinated to the
Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...
and is ruled by secret decrees and laws.In 2005, the
Senate of Argentina The Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation ( es, Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina) is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina. Overview The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 1854 ...
abolished secret laws, it is not clear how it has affected the Secretariat.
Even though the official acronym was renamed to S.I. as the new intelligence system became active,Article 51 of th
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
renames SIDE (''Secretaría de Inteligencia de Estado'') to S.I. (''Secretaría de Inteligencia'') and abolishes secret decree 416/76.
during most of its history it was called Secretaría de Inteligencia de Estado (''Secretariat of State Intelligence'', SIDE) and it still is referred to as SIDE by the public. On January 26, 2015, after the case of the prosecutor
Alberto Nisman Natalio Alberto Nisman (5 December 1963 – 18 January 2015) was an Argentine lawyer who worked as a federal prosecutor, noted for being the chief investigator of the 1994 car bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people, th ...
's death, President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess *Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American s ...
announced she was proposing legislation that would dissolve the (SI) and opening a new intelligence agency called the
Federal Intelligence Agency The Federal Intelligence Agency ( es, Agencia Federal de Inteligencia) mostly known for its abbreviation AFI, is the principal intelligence agency of Argentina. This organization is the successor to the Secretariat of Intelligence (mostly known ...
(AFI).


History

The Secretariat of Intelligence was created in 1946 when
Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...
's first presidency established it by Executive Decree 337/46 under the denomination of
Coordinación de Informaciones de Estado Coordinación de Informaciones de Estado (''State Intelligence Coordination'', CIDE) was the first Argentine civilian intelligence agency created in 1946 by Juan Perón, who was the ''de facto'' Argentine vice president at the time. It is the pred ...
(''State Intelligence Coordination'', CIDE). Its mission was to act as a national
intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objective ...
to be run by civilian personnel and to handle foreign and domestic
intelligence operations Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
for the
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. Before CIDE was established, national
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
was jointly handled by the
División de Informaciones División de Informaciones is a defunct Argentine intelligence agency created by Juan Perón to work within the National Presidential Office. Its director was Rodolfo Freude. It collaborated in the smuggling of Nazi war criminals to Argentina in ...
(''Information Division'', DI) of the
Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...
, and the military intelligence services such as the
Servicio de Inteligencia del Ejército Servicio de Inteligencia del Ejército (''Army Intelligence Service'', SIE) is the Argentine Army's intelligence agency. It is a division of J-2 and reports to the Army's Jefatura II (the General Staff's intelligence service). The Service is co ...
(''Army Intelligence Service'', SIE) and the Servicio de Inteligencia Naval (''Naval Intelligence Service'', SIN). Even though throughout Argentina's history military intelligence organs have been involved in handling both internal and external intelligence, reforms enacted in the last few decades have legally given them a role alongside civilian managed services in the National Intelligence System.Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
also created the National Directorate of Strategic Military Intelligence, charged with the coordination of all the
Argentine Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, in es, Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina, are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President) and a civilian Minister of Defense. In addition to the Army, Navy and Air Force, there are ...
military intelligence services.
The Secretariat (as it is commonly referred) had its first structural and functional reform in 1956, under the
Pedro Aramburu Pedro Eugenio Aramburu Silveti (May 21, 1903 – June 1, 1970) was an Argentine Army general. He was a major figure behind the '' Revolución Libertadora'', the military coup against Juan Perón in 1955. He became dictator of Argentina, servin ...
government when by Executive Decree 776/56 of January 20, CIDE adopted the name
Secretaría de Informaciones de Estado The ''Secretaría de Informaciones de Estado'' (Secretariat of State Information) was an Argentine intelligence agency, created in 1955 by National Executive Decree No. 776 of January 20 during the government of Pedro Eugenio Aramburu. It was the ...
(''Secretariat of State Information''), and the subsequent famous
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
"SIDE". The newly restructured
agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...
was closely modeled on the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
intelligence system. During
Juan Carlos Onganía Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo (; 17 March 1914 – 8 June 1995) was President of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as dictator after toppling the president Arturo Illia in a coup d'état self-named ''Revolución Argen ...
's government, SIDE was under the administration of General Señorans, one of the most well regarded Secretaries of Intelligence of all time. During those years, SIDE started to orchestrate its first complex foreign espionage missions, the staff was increased substantially to about 1,200, and the knowledge and operational capabilities were dramatically improved. During Señorans administration, many Argentine women began participating in what was then a male-only field. The Secretariat began appreciating certain advantages of the female sex, especially when operations required the exploitation of human weaknesses. However, in 1966, Señorans restructured the Secretariat, expelling 900 employees (of about 1,200 total), including all of the female intelligence operatives contracted at the time. It has been noted that Señorans had a phobia of females, and would not tolerate women working in administrative positions. In that same year, a failed kidnapping attempt of the Soviet Consul in Buenos Aires, led the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
to enact a formal protest, threatening to take the matters to international organizations. Onganía, against his will, had no other choice but to ask Señorans to resign, the Secretary in his final statement exposed that ''"Consul Petrov commands a group of spies of the
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
in Argentina".'' After Señorans departure, women regained their positions in the civil intelligence community, but it was at that time, with the onset of the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, that the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
began taking special interest in SIDE. The growth of
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
groups and guerrillas in Latin America, backed by
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
's regime, as well as the special interest the Soviet Union began to take in Latin America, made the American intelligence community influence what was then thought as an area of minor concern to American interests in the war. The Secretariat of Intelligence was no exception, the 'communist problem' was made a priority, and surveillance of foreign embassies and delegations of communist countries became common. Secret law Nº 20.195/73 came into effect on February 28, 1973 during the government of General Lanusse, literally establishing the mission, functions, personnel, and other important aspects of the agency; it is also known as the secret decree Nº 1.792/73, dated March 9, 1973. On May 13, 1976, President
Jorge Rafael Videla Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 1981. H ...
issued Executive Decree 416 changing the name of the agency to ''Secretaría de Inteligencia de Estado'' or "SIDE". Under the
National Reorganization Process The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United Sta ...
, SIDE transformed itself into a
secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
conducting espionage on guerrilla organizations,
labor unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
, or any other organization or person considered subversive, or a supporter of subversive activities. SIDE also took part in coordinating
Operation Condor Operation Condor ( es, link=no, Operación Cóndor, also known as ''Plan Cóndor''; pt, Operação Condor) was a United States–backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of o ...
with other
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
n intelligence services. After the return of democracy in 1983, during
Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
's government, SIDE began renewing its staff, thus becoming a civilian intelligence agency focusing its activities entirely on national interests. In December 2001, the Intelligence Reform Law was approved,Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
created the National Intelligence System.
changing the structure, denomination and functions to adapt it to the new National Intelligence System. In February 2001, during the
Fernando de la Rúa Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) was an Argentine politician and a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) political party who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1999 to 21 December 2001. De la Rúa was born in ...
government, SIDE was suffering from budget cuts (reduced by half) and political pressures to renew itself. The staff was reduced by half, 1,300 personnel were laid off. One of the reasons given for the clean-up were that many staff members had been involved in
human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
violations during the
National Reorganization Process The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United Sta ...
. This restructuring included laying off personnel who were past their retirement age according to the agency's standards, and removing most of the personnel from the return to democracy under the Alfonsín administration. During October 2003, under
Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
's government, a crackdown on illegal phone taps, as well as political and ideological espionage was ordered to Secretary of Intelligence
Sergio Acevedo Sergio Edgardo Acevedo (born 1 May 1956) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician, formerly a provincial governor and secretary in the national government. Life and times Born in Esquel, Chubut Province, Acevedo moved to Pico Truncado in 1 ...
. More than 160 personnel were expelled from the organization for violations of regulations. An internal security review was also conducted, later producing a report stating several security holes and cases of corruption and theft in the organization (i.e., theft of food, extraction of gasoline from cars and poor security at facilities).


Counter-terrorism

In the aftermath of the 1992
Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires The attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was a suicide bombing attack on the building of the Israeli embassy of Argentina, located in Buenos Aires, which was carried out on 17 March 1992. 29 civilians were killed in the attack and 242 ...
, SIDE augmented its focus on terrorist activities in the Triple border region. The lingering threat of another act of Islamic terrorism on Argentine soil, especially against Jewish entities in Buenos Aires, required the Secretariat to adapt to a previously unknown
national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...
threat. Foreign intelligence agencies cooperated in the formation on subjects as
Islamic terrorism Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism) refers to terrorist acts with religious motivations carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists. Incidents and fatalities f ...
and how to neutralize it. The U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
provided SIDE with extensive training, and experts from all over the world were contracted to teach classes in the National Intelligence School. SIDE also began instructing its personnel on
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
languages and history, and how to handle operations with people and organizations pertaining to such cultures. After the 1994
AMIA Bombing The AMIA bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; ), a Jewish Community Centre. Executed as a suicidal attack, a bomb-laden van was driven into the AMIA buildi ...
, SIDE recognized that Islamic terrorism became an extremely serious threat to national security. A plan codenamed Operation Centaur (''Operación Centauro'') to monitor terrorist organizations on the Triple border was orchestrated in cooperation with the CIA, and included phone taps, mail interceptions, and covert surveillance of many suspects. Its reports detailed the existence and activities of terrorist organizations in the area, which benefited from the huge black market in
Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
and served as a financial laundering center for other organizations abroad. A 1997 report including evidence of such activities was shared with the intelligence agencies of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The Sala Patria group,''Sala Patria'' was a covert operations group dependant of the Undersecretariat of Foreign Intelligence. Two famous staff members named by the Argentina, Argentine press frequently, Alejandro Brousson and Patricio Miguel Finnen led this group. ''Sala Patria'' was first assigned to capture Enrique Gorriarán Merlo and then leading the AMIA investigation on foreign soil. The group was also involved in famous operations such as the SIDE#Operation Ciprés, Nasrim Mokhtari fiasco, and the SIDE#Operation Cabildo, Telledin bribes. The group was recently dissolved, both Patricio Miguel Finnen and Alejandro Brousson no longer work for SIDE, and the group now became a division known as "Division 34: Transnational Crime and International Terrorism". It is important to note that "Sala" is a group of people from many divisions of the organization put together to work on a specific operation, i.e., ''Sala Independencia'', created to work on the investigation of the Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires, Israeli embassy bombing. formed to investigate clues about the AMIA bombing outside of Argentina, started operating in Paraguay and gave crucial information that led to the capture of many suspected terrorists and the neutralization of a suspected plan to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Asunción,
Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
.


Organization

SIDE is the head of the National Intelligence System, and also the largest intelligence agency of Argentina. It depends on the Presidency. It reports to the President of Argentina, who is required to set the national intelligence plan and policy. Besides being an intelligence agency that handles foreign and internal intelligence, it also assists nationwide criminal investigations,Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
created the Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia Criminal, National Directorate of Criminal Intelligence, charged with the coordination of internal criminal intelligence from the security forces.
somewhat like the American Federal Bureau of Investigation, SIDE frequently collaborates with the Ministry of Justice (Argentina), Justice Ministry. The Secretariat embodies special internal suborganizations that aid its duties. The Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia (''National Intelligence School'', ENI) acts as the main intelligence academy, training and recruiting agents for SIDE, and providing tuition and assistance for personnel of other intelligence and Police, law enforcement agencies. The ENI also analyzes Argentina, Argentine intelligence doctrine and gives specialized intelligence post-graduate formation to students in the country, including courses given over the Internet. In 2001, the Intelligence Reform Law 25.520 came into effect, subsequently making significant modifications to SIDE's traditional internal organization, as well as branching out some of its tasks to other newly created organizations such as the Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia Criminal, National Directorate of Criminal Intelligence.Th
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
also established new legislations regarding the Dirección de Observaciones Judiciales, Directorate of Judicial Surveillance, to make the organization more efficient and transparent.
The President of Argentina is charged to assign the positions of Secretary and Undersecretary of Intelligence, but restrictions apply on the Secretary of Intelligence's authority to assign his or her own contracted staff to the organism.Article 24 of th
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
approved in 2001, mandates that no more than 2% of the Secretariat's personnel can be appointed by the current Secretary of Intelligence, and such personnel must exit the organization when the Secretary of Intelligence that appointed them ends his term. Furthermore, such agents contracted by the Secretary are classified as "assessoring personnel" and are included in the Cabinet of Personnel.
The Secretariat itself counts with three Undersecretariats of Interior and Exterior Intelligence, and Apoyo (''support''). They are subsequently codenamed A, B and C, or with Secretaría de Inteligencia#Numbers, numbers. In the foreign field, officers are usually disguised with diplomatic immunity in Argentine embassies and consulates around the world (practice common to the world of espionage). The positions of 'Media consultant', 'Cultural attaché', or 'Tourism consultant' are the most frequently used. The current Secretary of Intelligence is Héctor Icazuriaga and the Undersecretary is Francisco Larcher, both appointed by President
Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
. The third most-important position in SIDE is the Director General de Operaciones (''General Director of Operations''), which administers all intelligence and covert operations inside and outside the country; legendary secret agent Horacio Antonio Stiusso ''(Alias: Jaime Stiles)'' currently holds the position. Silvia Fornasaro is in charge of the Dirección de Finanzas (''Finances Directorate''), which handles all of the Secretariat's accounting and budget balancing.


Objectives

The Secretariat's objectives in the functions of intelligence as mandated by law are: * Protect the general well being of society, prioritizing the safeguarding of individual and collective rights in a frame of legality, integrity and objectivity. * Identify and interpret, anticipated and coherently, threats against national territory as well as individual and collective human security, in function of the nation's vital interests. * Assist the different areas of the national government about the capacities and vulnerabilities of the different actors -in the national and international spectrum- who might prevent the attainment of national objectives, thus collaborating in the process of decision making. * Identify acts and processes that could be taken advantage of as "opportunities" in function of national interests. * Promote and strengthen the relations with the greater possible number of foreign agencies and/or intelligence services, in order to create fluid channels of information exchange and intelligence. Other more specific objectives of the Secretariat: * Formulate the National Intelligence Plan (as mandated by Law 25.250) * Coordinate the functional relations with the different members of the National Intelligence System. * Collaborate with other areas of the government providing information and intelligence in order to detect and neutralize potential terrorist acts. * Produce information in time and opportunity on important actors, events and processes of the regional, continental and worldwide frame with incidence on the country. * Elaborate hypothesis on international terrorism, drug trafficking, traffic of arms, etc., in the worldwide, continental and regional frames. * Carry out intelligence in the regional scope to forecast of important processes. * Respond to the requirements of the Bilateral Commission on Control of Intelligence Organisms and Activities of the Argentine National Congress, National Congress (as per Law 25.520) * Elaborated prospective scenarios in the international spectrum and evaluate its impact on the country. * Collaborate with the Justice system providing information necessary to fight crimes such as smuggling, organized crime, money laundering, fiscal evasion, etc. * Assist different investigations authorized or ordered by competent judicial authorities referred from crimes such as extortion, kidnapping, smuggling, drug trafficking, copyright infringement of information technology material, falsification of money, etc. * Plan and execute programs of qualification, training and improvement for the personnel of the Secretariat of Intelligence, the National Intelligence System, as well as for civil employees of other areas of the National Government. * Expand the bonds with public and private studies centers and NGOs, both in the national and international scope.


Subjects of interest

The Secretariat's main interest points are the following: * International terrorism, including the terrorist attacks against the 1994 AMIA bombing, Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) and the 1992 Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires, Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. * Religious fundamentalism. * Organized crime, including mafias, Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, arms trafficking and False document, identity falsification. * Evolution of integration developments (North American Free Trade Agreement, Mercosur, Free Trade Area of the Americas, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, European Union, etc.) and analysis of international economic negotiations regarding free market. * Legal and illegal Human migration, migrations and development of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, natives of the Americas. * Proliferation of Weapon of mass destruction, massive destruction weapons (nuclear, chemical, biological). * Ecological problems that can be considered potential risks for
national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...
. * National and foreign advances in Science, scientific areas. * Evolution of the official policies on national defense and security. * Current situation in the South Atlantic, including Argentine Antarctica and the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas). * Analysis of political situations in major
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
n and European countries with the purpose of identifying instability, conflicts and crises which may cause a direct or indirect repercussion on national interests.


Structure

Internally composed of three Subsecretarías (''Undersecretariats''): Interior, Exterior (''Foreign''), and Apoyo (''Support''). all of its divisions have specific identification #Numbers, numbers assigned. * Subsecretaría de Inteligencia Interior (''Undersecretariat of Interior Intelligence'') (8): responsible for production and dissemination of
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
in internal areas. For this purpose, it is subdivided into several Direcciones (''Directorates'') which are in charge of specific political, economic and social factors.
** Dirección de Inteligencia Interior (''Directorate of Interior Intelligence''): responsible for searching and collecting of information on national affairs, for which task it has technical, operational and management areas. ** Dirección de Reunión Interior (''Directorate of Internal Collection''): responsible for the collection and diffusion of intelligence corresponding to the internal areas. For the achievement of its mission it is subdivided in Departments assigned to specific political, economic and social issues. ** Dirección de Observaciones Judiciales (''Directorate of Judicial Surveillance'') (84): responsible for carrying out telephone, mail, and other communication interceptions mandated by judicial officers. ** Dirección de Contrainteligencia (''Directorate of Counterintelligence'') (85): responsible for
counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
and Counter-intelligence, counterespionage activities. It has
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
and technical-operational areas which carry out specific duties.
** Dirección de Comunicación Social (''Directorate of Social Communication''): responsible for the analysis and collection of public information (i.e.: mass media). * Subsecretaría de Inteligencia Exterior (''Undersecretariat of Foreign Intelligence'') (3): responsible of the collection and production of
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
on foreign areas.
** Dirección de Reunión Exterior (''Directorate of Foreign Collection''): responsible for the collection and diffusion of
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
on facts and/or processes pertaining to foreign affairs. It comprises different areas with different technical and operational targets. It is responsible for the liaison with foreign services (i.e.: intelligence delegates in foreign countries).
** Dirección de Inteligencia Exterior (''Directorate of Foreign Intelligence'') (32): responsible for the production of state
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
on the foreign area. For this purpose, it has specific areas analyzing different issues and the continental and global frame ''by country/country by country/in each country''.
*** International Political, Economical and Social Processes. *** Transnational Crime and International Terrorism (34) *** Processes of the Proliferation of Weapons of Massive Destruction. * Subsecretaría de Apoyo de Inteligencia (''Undersecretariat of Support Intelligence''): responsible for logistical support, staff, communications and data-processing centers of the Secretariat. In order to achieve this it has several directorates in charge of these specific areas.


Facilities

The Secretariat is a nationwide intelligence agency, and has delegations and bases in most provinces of Argentina, as well as representations in most important countries. Reports state that SIDE has about 24 operation bases around the world. Its main building is located in Ave. 25 de Mayo 11 (with a backdoor access through Ave. Leandro N. Alem 10), at the heart of Downtown Buenos Aires, near to the Casa Rosada, Presidential Palace and Plaza de Mayo. Although the central base is the 25 de Mayo building and annexes, many buildings, known as bases or operation centers, are spread throughout the city of Buenos Aires. There are reports that the main building is also connected to the Casa Rosada, which is across the street, through an underground passage. The main building was built in 1929 by architect Alejandro Bustillo, for the original owner Federico Martinez de Hoz, Federico L. Martínez de Hoz. Inaugurated in 1930, was originally used as a housing called "Martinez de Hoz Building". In 1940 the
federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
bought it. Valued at US$1,607,022, its street surface is 413 square meters, inside it is 5430 square meters; and it has ten floors, the fifth floor being the Secretary of Intelligence's office, and the tenth floor the special operations division. Security on the facility is meticulously strict, the whole building is covered with dark tinted windows, and when a person approaches the door, guards inquire the visitor for his or her name and the reason of visit. Once they are approved to enter, they must go through a metal detector and be accompanied throughout the visit by a staff member who will guide the visitor through the building and provide the necessary magnetic card to access restricted areas. Two annexes in Ave. 25 de Mayo are internally connected to the main facility thus extending the Secretariat's offices. Surveillance around the whole surroundings of the Casa Rosada, Presidential Palace and Plaza de Mayo is tight for obvious reasons. In the late 1960s, there was a serious incident when members of Montoneros breached the building and stayed inside for a whole weekend, taking objects, folders, and other sensitive material. During the late 1970s and 1980s, the tenth floor of the Correo Central building was provided to the Secretariat to be used for mail interception. Other facilities of unknown status:


Infrastructure

Communications in the agency are a crucial infrastructure and policy issue. For the southern bases in Patagonia, communications is provided by the ''Servicios y Tecnologia S.R.L.'' (SyT) company. The rest of SIDE's communications, phone tapping abilities, data transfer, etc. are handled by Telecom Argentina, Telecom and Telefónica of Argentina, Movistar, Nextel, CTI Móvil, and ''Compañía de Radiocomuncaciones Móviles, S.A.'' Data processing computers for SIDE are provided by Bull. In 2001, under Secretary of Intelligence Fernando de Santibañes, the Secretariat began a major upgrade of its computer infrastructure.


Personnel

Recent reports (since the Secretariat does not declare the exact number of personnel it embodies) state that about 2,500 to 3,000 agents are currently working both inside and outside of
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
for the Secretariat. Only the Secretary and the Undersecretary of Intelligence are public functionaries, the rest of SIDE personnel must act and work secretly, as stated by the Intelligence Reform Law 25.520. About 80% of the personnel works in areas dependant of the Interior Undersecretariat, and the remaining on the Exterior and Support Undersecretariats. According to the agent's rank, they get paid from 1.800 to 2.678 Argentine Pesos a month; directors, reach $3.000 ARS. Delegates abroad are inserted in the frame of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, but receive monthly salaries by the Secretariat. Their job mainly consists of producing reports on current events of interests in the country they are stationed in, as well as establishing links with the local intelligence services.


Recruitment

Citizens are recruited into SIDE using a well-known and widely used method by worldwide intelligence agency, intelligence agencies during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. The procedure was simple, recruiting students from national universities based on an assessment of their character, behavior and intelligence. The method was first used during the Juan Carlos Onganía, Onganía government, under the command of Secretary of Intelligence Gral. Señorans, who himself said ''"a person who enters at 20 years of age having studied in a university, should be an excellent professional at 30 years of age"''. During the process of recruitment, experts focused on four essential points when assessing their targets: * Language and expressivity. * Discretion in the way they dress. * A meticulous way of life. * Possession of personal life experiences allowing them to adapt their personality to different situations. When students accepted the invitation to join SIDE, they were sent to be trained in the National Intelligence School. Nevertheless, not all spies were chosen from universities; it was common that experienced agents recommended people they dealt with their personal life, and who they thought were apt to develop a career in the world of intelligence. Spies recruited that way were classified as "confidents", they received a monthly pay while their abilities to carry out espionage activities were being tested. Once confidents proved that they could be trusted they were promoted to the "contracted collaborators" category. In those cases, agents were targets of specific controls, an "ambiental" surveillance on them done by the counter-intelligence division. If agents met their superiors' expectations, they signed a temporary work contract which was renewable periodically. In the "confident" career, the third step was denominated "temporary personnel" (Personal Temporario, in Spanish language, Spanish), as soon as they reached that stage, they were allowed to take courses in the National Intelligence School. Finally, after two years of being assigned as temporary personnel, they were reassigned as permanent "civil personnel" (PC, in Spanish). There was not a specified period of time between the steps of a "confident" and "civil personnel", there were cases of people who took 15 years before they were fully integrated. Today SIDE is rumored to be a ''"very closed family"'', one which nobody enters without a recommendation. Interviews with agents state that ''"the first rule is to forget your name"'', and that new personnel are baptized with a fake identity.


Associates

'Associates' are companies used for support in covert operations, known cases detailed by Argentine justice include masquerade companies such as: Tecnit, CF COM, OSGRA S.R.L, Tiumayú S.A, AMSUD S.A, EMCOSUD S.A, IDIS (''Instituto de Investigaciones y Servicios'') S.R.L, and ''Canteras Brandsen S.R.L.'' Apparently all of them are run by SIDE personnel, and are used for covert operations inside of Argentina, and as well to set up agents in foreign countries. One known example is that of an agent acting as a broker of EMCOSUD in Santiago de Chile.


Culture

The Secretary and Undersecretary of Intelligence are referred as "Señor Cinco" (''Mr. Five'') and "Señor Ocho" (''Mr. Eight'') respectively, because of the location of their offices, the fifth and eight floor of the 25 de Mayo building. Other aliases include "Señor Tres" (''Mr. Three'') for the Undersecretary of Foreign Intelligence and "Señor Nueve" (''Mr. Nine'') for the Undersecretary of Logistics. Cafeterias in buildings of the Secretariat are referred to as "casinos". Although unconfirmed, the name "Señor Cinco" is alleged to the 1956 restructuring of SIDE, closely modelled on the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 whose first director was Captain Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, George Mansfield Smith-Cumming. Often dropping the "Smith", Cumming used his initial "C" as a codename which was also used by all subsequent directors of MI6. The name "Señor Cinco" was allegedly adapted from it. The main building in Ave. 25 de Mayo is referred to as "Central". Agents working for SIDE call the Secretariat simply as "La Casa" (''The House''). Foreign personnel whose function is to act as a link between their agency and SIDE are referred as "COI". Also, spies are sometimes referred by politicians as "Servis", meaning somebody pertaining to ''"The Service"'' (in English). The official mascot of SIDE is the Fox (''Zorro''). Among SIDE personnel the Dirección de Observaciones Judiciales (''Directorate of Judicial Surveillance'', DOJ) is referred to as "Ojota" (''Sandal''); furthermore, "Ojota" implies "Ojo" (''Eye'').


Numbers

An interesting and sometimes confusing fact about the Secretariat's internal organization is the use of a specially structured sequence of numbers to refer to different internal divisions. For example, the Undersecretariat of Interior Intelligence is numbered '8', and its dependencies, such as the Directorates of Counterintelligence and Judicial Surveillance are numbered '84' and '85' respectively. The same case applies for the Undersecretariat of Exterior Intelligence, or '3', its divisions go from '32' for the Directorate of Foreign Intelligence to '34' for the Division of Transnational Crime and International Terrorism. Even though it is still hard to discern how exactly SIDE's number sequence is structured because of the lack of an official explanation, it is known that single numbers used to refer to a certain director, '3', '5', '8', '9'. Sometimes the numbers represent their location in the 25 de Mayo buildings.


Public media and fiction

As with most intelligence agencies, the Secretariat only makes public statements when dealing with national issues or scandals. For the Secretariat, the AMIA investigation, the Sofía Fijman incident, and the participation in the Senate Bribes scandal were the most notorious episodes of media attention. During the AMIA investigation, Claudio Lifschitz, a judicial employee involved in the investigation wrote a book about his experiences and theories that the Secretariat knew beforehand about the bombing and could not stop it. In 2005, Tiempo de Valientes, a comedy made by Damián Szifron dealt with the age old rivalry between the Secretariat and the Policía Federal Argentina, Federal Police. The Secretariat had a major role in the film's plot, it was portrayed as containing very sinister and corrupt individuals for the most part. In the end, the movie vindicates the role of intelligence in the national government. In the United States, American American Broadcasting Company, ABC Television program, TV show ''Alias (TV series), Alias'', Nadia Santos (''Mía Maestro'') is an ex-SIDE secret agent, agent who now works for the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
. 'Argentine intelligence' has been referenced several times in the show.


Publications

Every three months, SIDE publishes an official Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia#Magazine, magazine through the National Intelligence School. Books dedicated to the Secretariat's history and scandals include ''Los sospechosos de siempre: Historia del espionaje en la Argentina'' by Jorge Boimvaser. The book was to be published in 1995, but then Secretary of Intelligence Hugo Anzorreguy allegedly made a monetary deal with its author and ''Editorial Planeta'' to hold off on the book's publication. The book was finally published in 2001, and actually is one of the most complete sources of information about historical SIDE facts, even though it elegantly evades a clear definition of its inner structure. In July 2006, ''SIDE: La Argentina secreta'' by Gerardo Young was published. Young's book is aimed towards more personal aspects of the Secretariat, such as its most famous members, internal rules, and details about its management and operations.


Historical operations


Dirty War

The SIDE played a role during the Dirty War and participated in
Operation Condor Operation Condor ( es, link=no, Operación Cóndor, also known as ''Plan Cóndor''; pt, Operação Condor) was a United States–backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of o ...
, the international network of South American intelligence agencies. A secret detention camp for
Operation Condor Operation Condor ( es, link=no, Operación Cóndor, also known as ''Plan Cóndor''; pt, Operação Condor) was a United States–backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of o ...
in Buenos Aires, known as Automotores Orletti (also known as ''Tactical Operations Centre 18''), functioned under the orders of SIDE from May to November 1976. One of the most important operations carried out by SIDE was the planning of a triple assassination attempt in Europe with the collaboration of the Chilean Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, DINA, and the Uruguayan intelligence agency, intelligence service. The objective was to murder, if possible at the same time, three special personalities living in Paris, France: Isabel Allende (politician), Isabel Allende (daughter of Salvador Allende, Chile), Rodolfo Matarollo (member of the People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina), ERP,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
), and Enrique Erro (ex-senator, Uruguay), all of them opposed the South American de facto regimes, and well known dissidents. The idea was originally suggested by Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, DINA director Manuel Contreras, and was planned out in the Billinghurst base in Buenos Aires, previous approval of Argentine dictator
Jorge Rafael Videla Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 1981. H ...
. The assassinations were to be carried with 9 mm or .22 caliber guns brought to France via Argentine Diplomacy, diplomatic carriage. The operation failed due to the Argentine Ambassador in Paris's reluctance to give the bag to the agents without first revealing what was in it.


Operation Marylin

When Héctor José Cámpora assumed the presidency of Argentina on May 25, 1973, Cuba sent a wave of diplomats and official delegates to Argentina, proposing that was the time to resume cultural interchanges with the Argentine government. However, the Argentine intelligence services distrusted the real motives for the influx of the Cubans. It was then that an analyst in the Secretariat discovered a human weakness in the Cuban delegates: their extreme sensitivity for blonde women that stood out. The Café La Biela in the neighbourhood of Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Recoleta was a common place for the Cubans to be spotted hunting for their female counterparts by SIDE agents. The Secretariat orchestrated a plan to infiltrate, assess and obtain information as fast as can be possible. In this operation, the main actors would be blonde women, SIDE began recruiting capable women in known 'hot' spots of the city, some of them managed by people closely connected with the Secretariat. Three women were cited for an interview in downtown Buenos Aires, proposed a job opportunity that involved establishing a solid and stable link with the Cuban delegates, all accepted. They would be paid almost the same money they earned at their previous jobs, plus a few honoraries for the services provided. During a week, the agents were taught basic intelligence theories and practices, they observed photographs of the Cubans they were going to 'mark', and they had time to elaborate complex backstories for their supposed identities. The director in charge of Operation Marylin selected divorced women with children on purpose, so they would not raise any suspicions in their families or targets. The three females claimed to work doing 'sales' for a living, allowing them to be available at many hours in which to be in direct contact with the Cubans. Finally, after a subtle approximation scene played out in Café La Biela, two of the Cuban delegates fell for the Honey trapping, trap, but the third one apparently was not interested in establishing relations. After six weeks of observations and wire-taps (the spies made sure to plant the Cubans' rooms with Covert listening device, microphones), the Cuban embassy unexpectedly ordered its delegates to return to La Habana. SIDE did not obtain any relevant information about their suspicions that the Cubans were assisting and supporting Argentine leftists groups, but the agency realised that women are a very useful tool in the espionage world. All three females that participated in the operation were offered permanent jobs in SIDE; only one accepted, the rest went back to the Buenos Aires night scene. Operation Marylin proved that using women to exploit weaknesses in men was a feasible and convenient method of extracting information, and observating both foreign and internal adversaries of Argentina. Although the real insertion of females into the Argentine espionage community started in the mid-1960s, during the 70s, one of Argentina's most agitated eras, the women of SIDE started playing a crucial role in its operations.


Operation Veinte Años

On October 28, 1995, Enrique Gorriarán Merlo, Argentina's most wanted terrorism, terrorist, was captured in the little town of Tepoztlán, 60 miles away Mexico City, and extradited back to
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. Merlo had been involved in numerous criminal activities during the 1970s and 1980s, most notably the assassination of Anastasio Somoza Debayle on September 17 in
Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
, and for orchestrating the 1989 attack on the La Tablada military barracks by the Movimiento Todos por la Patria, MTP group. Merlo, who claims it was a kidnapping orchestrated by SIDE,Gorrarián Merlo's narration of the story of his kidnapping was published in
Página/12 newspaper interview.
/ref> had traveled to Mexico to meet with Mexican politicians of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, PRD, who were cooperating in an international push to free the guerrillas responsible for the La Tablada attack who were, and still are, serving prison term in Argentine jails. Merlo arrived in the Mexican Mexico City, capital with a fake Uruguayan passport, where he soon realized that the Mexican security forces were following him. He thought they were just doing basic surveillance on him to see if he was doing any illegal activity in Mexican territory. On Saturday, October 28, he spotted three Argentine-looking men in Tepoztlán Square, "''one of which'' -he said- ''looked like he was from the Argentine intelligence service or the police''". Merlo was driving a friend's truck, after spotting the Argentines, he tried to lose his entourage of followers by driving into the town of Cuatula. A few minutes later, Merlo claims he was stopped, surrounded, and shot several times until he put his hands out the truck's destroyed window. Merlo goes on to claim that the Mexican security services handcuffed him, and made him face the Argentine, who nodded silently (''affirming that he was who they were looking for''). Merlo was taken into the Mexican Migrations Department, where he claims was interrogated three times by SIDE agents. The last time they interrogated him, they asked if he was Gorriarán Merlo, he answered back ''"yes"'', and simultaneously asked for asylum. (''Mexico has a tradition for giving asylum to politically prosecuted people in other Latin American countries''). One of the Mexican police man told them that there was "''receptiveness''" about his request, but at five in the morning, Mexican authorities took him to the airport and put in him in SIDE's plane, where the same SIDE agent from Tepoztlán and the interrogation was present. The operation was allegedly carried out by the Sala Patria group of the Secretariat. Gorrarián Merlo served prison time in Argentina for his crimes, and was later pardoned in 2003 by President of Argentina, President Eduardo Duhalde.


AMIA investigation

Judicial reports during the investigation have displayed sufficient evidence of SIDE's involvement in the AMIA bombing, AMIA case investigation. In 2003, President of Argentina, President
Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
signed a decree that opened all SIDE's files (''about 15,000'') and allowed the ex-Secretary of Intelligence, Hugo Anzorreguy, and many intelligence personnel involved in the case (including Horacio Antonio Stiusso, Patricio Miguel Finnen, and Alejandro Brousson) to be available to declare in the investigation about Judge Galeano's mishandling during his job as official judge of the case. Several critics blame SIDE for failing to stall the attack on the AMIA as the warnings of an impending attack on Argentine soil were received. Judicial evidence presented during the AMIA investigation show that the Argentina, Argentine Embassy in Beirut, the ABIN, Brazilian Intelligence Service, and the Argentina, Argentine Consulate in Milan warned SIDE about the attack on the Jewish organization.


Operation Cabildo

Juan José Galeano, the judge in charge of the
AMIA Bombing The AMIA bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; ), a Jewish Community Centre. Executed as a suicidal attack, a bomb-laden van was driven into the AMIA buildi ...
investigation, asked Hugo Anzorreguy to help him advance the investigation by bribing a key witness who refused to testify, Carlos Telledín. The Secretariat provided 400 thousand dollars so he would change his testimony, thus forcing progress on a case that had been stuck for two years. SIDE explicitly participated in the operation to give the money to Telledín's wife, Ana Boragni in a Lloyds Bank (historic), Lloyds Bank located on Ave. Cabildo in Buenos Aires. The public importance about this operation is that it explicitly implied SIDE working to orchestrate a cover-up in the AMIA case. The operation was described thoroughly by SIDE agents who testified later on, during President
Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
's push for new leads on the case.


Surveillance of foreign embassies

During the 1960s, SIDE set up constant surveillance on embassies from the Eastern bloc as well as other communism, communist nations in Buenos Aires. During the investigation of the AMIA case, then counter-intelligence operations director Horacio Antonio Stiusso, was asked about why SIDE had been tapping the phone lines and setting bugs in the embassies of Iran and Cuba in Buenos Aires. Stiusso alleged that those tasks were simply counter-intelligence operations and had no relationship with the AMIA case. Nevertheless, in 1998, Argentina fired many Iranian diplomats on the basis of "phone taps" that provided evidence Iran was involved in the AMIA bombing.


Sofía Fijman incident

In the late 1990s, an employee of the Secretariat in charge of the Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, National Intelligence School's security was convicted for murder. For more information see the Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia#Sofía Fijman incident, School's incidents.


Operation Ciprés

In the late nineties, Nasrim Mokhtari an Iranian prostitute and hairdresser, who was believed to be involved with an Iranian support group that helped carry out the bombings of the Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires, Israeli Embassy in 1992, and the AMIA Bombing, AMIA building in 1994, was tricked by the Secretariat into coming back to Argentina from Europe. The information on her involvement came from Wilson Dos Santos, a suspect in the AMIA case. Dos Santos was a Brazilian taxi boy and thief who did a significant amount of smuggling in the Triple Frontier. Mokhtari had a romantic relationship with Dos Santos in Buenos Aires, and claims he knew about the plot to bomb the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, AMIA building through her connection in the Buenos Aires islamic community. It is suspected that Dos Santos worked, or works for the ABIN, Brazilian Intelligence Service, or the Brazilian Federal Police Department, Police. Furthermore, a few weeks before the bombing, Dos Santos entered the Argentina, Argentine, Israeli, and
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian consulates in Milán, Italy, to warn about the upcoming attacks. There was no trace of him until he was captured in Switzerland years later, holding 8 passports, and extradited to Argentina on charges of false testimony, of which he is currently serving prison time. When Dos Santos was declared for the Argentine justice ministry, even though there were weak points in his statements, he named Mokhtari and alleged she knew about the bombings (''he later testified that he warned the consulates on information he got from her''). The Argentine justice system, needing new leads because of all the pressure put on them to solve both bombings, ordered SIDE to find Mokhtari and bring her back to Argentina for interrogation. A plan codenamed ''Operation Ciprés'' was orchestrated to locate her in Europe and bring her back to Argentina. Once located in Switzerland, she was conned into coming back to Argentina by SIDE agents, who posed as meat businessmen who proposed her a job as a translator to do business with Iran. The operation was carried out by the Sala Patria group, and it has been said that the operation cost the Secretariat about half a million dollars, which included locating her, paying costs, agents and buying information in Cyprus, France, Belgium and Switzerland. The French intelligence service also helped SIDE locate Mokhtari in while she was living in Paris,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Mokthari was on an Air France flight to Montevideo, Uruguay, that made a stop in Buenos Aires. When she got off to change planes, she was arrested by a Grupo Especial de Operaciones Federales (Argentina), special counter-terrorism team of the Policía Federal Argentina, Federal Police. Mokhtari was eventually let free, there were no sufficient proofs to incriminate her in anything, or even being involved in the Iranian support group that carried out the AMIA bombing. A restriction on leaving the country was imposed on her, and later lifted, but Nasrim Mokhtari had already lost her contacts in Paris, had no money, and become a publicly known 'international terrorist'. The Secretariat declined to provide sufficient accommodations for Mokhtari to stay in Argentina, and Iran did not want her in its territory because of the sufficient international problems she brought to them with Iran being blamed in participating in the AMIA bombing. She is currently hospitalized at a mental institution in Buenos Aires.


Breakdown of CIA relations

In January 2001, Página/12 newspaper published an article on the Secretariat's troubled relations with the American
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA). Along with the article was a photo and personal details of Ross Newland, then CIA Station Chief in Buenos Aires, who was expected to become head of the
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
n division in the CIA. Official reports say that the CIA wanted SIDE to investigate the operations of the Russian Mafia and ex-
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
agents who had just arrived in Argentina. The reasons were that the Russian Mafia was using Argentina as an intermediate country for smuggling illegal aliens to the U.S. At the time, Argentines did not require Visa (document), visas for tourist visits to the United States, and obtaining Argentine citizenship had recently been relatively easy. Other reasons to investigate the recently arrived ex-KGB and Russian Mafia was that many ex-CIA and ex-FBI personnel had private security businesses in Argentina and in many other Latin American countries. The arrival of the Russian gang in Argentina put their businesses at risk of competition. A few months before, Newland, a 50-year-old who loved living in Buenos Aires accused SIDE of following him and fellow CIA operatives in Argentina, as well as doing audio surveillance on them. Information leaked out that ''Patricio Finnen'' and ''Alejandro Brousson'', two old notorious important staff members of the Secretariat, were responsible for carrying out the operation from the Billinghurst base. The Americans were not the only ones affected by the Secretariat's peculiar attention, the Israeli Mossad and the German Bundesnachrichtendienst, Federal Intelligence Service (BND). American reports state that the Secretariat never helped the CIA on its requests, instead, the U.S. alleged that SIDE helped the "newcomers" insert themselves in the market by selling them information. The CIA became furious since they had historically contributed funds for SIDE to do their operations, and SIDE was indirectly helping the Russians in their smuggling operation. They expected the Secretariat to be on their side, and to make the 'Russian problem' a government issue, therefore putting pressure on the Russians. The head of the Secretariat's counter-intelligence service at the time, retired Major Alejandro Broussoun, an ex military serviceman from the Argentine Army Engineers Corps, and an ex-follower of the ultra-nationalist right wing ''Carapintadas'' organization in the 1980s and 1990s, was blamed by the CIA for the leak of the identity of their station chief to the popular newspaper. The United States investigation into the incident with SIDE, revealed that the picture and information of Ross Newland was given to the newspaper by the Secretariat itself. Meanwhile, SIDE tried to repair relations by explaining the scandal by another theory. At the end of the scandal, with Ross Newland's identity uncovered and the episode becoming a major embarrassment for the U.S. and Argentina in the worldwide intelligence community, the CIA removed its Station Chief from Argentina, and said they were going to permanently move their offices to Montevideo, Uruguay because of their problems working together with SIDE. Also, as a result of this, the head of the SIDE counter-intelligence service, retired Major ''Alejandro Brousson'' was expelled because of the American diplomatic pressure to punish the responsible of an act they considered "''a violation of game rules''" (in the intelligence community, that is). The scandal not only put a stain in the CIA's relations with SIDE, but also made the Americans distrust the Argentine intelligence community which they had come to collaborate extensively during the Carlos Menem administration.


Bribes in the Senate

In 2001, the government under President of Argentina, President
Fernando de la Rúa Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) was an Argentine politician and a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) political party who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1999 to 21 December 2001. De la Rúa was born in ...
used the Secretariat's reserved funds to orchestrate the bribery of several senators in the National Congress of Argentina, Argentine Congress. The motive behind the operation was to assure the promotion of a labor reform law that De La Rúa was promoting. When the level of involvement of the Executive Branch became known to the public, a national scandal broke out and De La Rúa's administration took heavy criticism. The Secretariat was then under the command of banker Fernando de Santibañes, a close friend of then President De La Rúa, who promised to make sweeping changes to the Secretariat of Intelligence. The opposition parties in Argentina, specially during the government of Carlos Menem, saw SIDE as a political tool and promised sweeping reforms if they won the 1999 presidential elections. After the details of the participation of SIDE in the scandal became publicly known, then President Fernando de la Rúa asked Fernando De Santibañes to resign. He was charged with participating in the Senate of Argentina, Senate bribes case. In 2013, a Federal Jury found that President De la Rua and Fernando de Santibañes, together with other officials and senators, were innocent of the allegations.


Assassination of Piqueteros

The Justice system and the press blame the Secretariat participating in the organization of events in 2002 that led to the deaths of Darío Santillán and Maximiliano Kosteki, two piqueteros that were protesting in the Pueyrredón Bridge in Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires. Both men were shot in the back by Policía Bonaerense, Buenos Aires Police's officers armed with shotguns. Months before the tragedy, the Secretariat had produced intelligence reports that the Piqueteros' assemblies and protests were being attended by the Colombian extremist group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC.
The politicians responsible for the massacre
'', MasacreAvellaneda.org. URL accessed on August 25, 2006.
Furthermore, minutes before the assassinations, there were three phone calls, between Alfredo Fanchiotti, a policeman involved in the incident, and the Undersecretary of Intelligence, at the time, Oscar Rodríguez. During the trial, police officers involved in the scene that day, declared that a man from SIDE approached them and told them that "''Today there will be incidents''", furthermore incriminating the Secretariat on the assassinations. Carlos Soria, then Secretary of State Intelligence, later declared that "''democracy works in order, we needed to establish order''", making the public theory that the assassinations were orchestrated by SIDE to psychologically reduce the Piqueteros movements motivation and their influence in Argentine society. The assassinations, which sparked outrage by Piquetero groups, made then interim President Eduardo Duhalde to call for elections earlier than planned, and since then, the
federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
has established a non-repressive policy towards the Piqueteros. In 2005, President Néstor Kirchner, signed a decree that released all of the Secretariats's files about the tragedy to the public, and made some SIDE staff and agents available for questioning if necessary. Nobody in SIDE has yet been charged with participating in the case. On the second anniversary of the assassinations, protesters and piqueteros marched towards the Secretaría de Inteligencia#Facilities, Billinghurst base were the phone calls originated and proceeded to deface the property and manifest public outrage towards the organization.
Escrache a la SIDE
', Independent Media Center, Indymedia. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
It was the first time ever people protested at one of SIDE's facilities.


See also

* :Argentine intelligence agencies, Argentine intelligence agencies * CIA activities in Argentina * Dirección de Observaciones Judiciales, Directorate of Judicial Surveillance * List of Argentine Secretaries of Intelligence, List of Secretaries of Intelligence * Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia Criminal, National Directorate of Criminal Intelligence * National Directorate of Strategic Military Intelligence * National Intelligence School * National Intelligence System


References


External links


Official website, now defunct
*



{{DEFAULTSORT:Secretaria de Inteligencia Defunct Argentine intelligence agencies Counterintelligence agencies Government agencies established in 1946 Government buildings in Argentina Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires Buildings and structures completed in 1929 Anti-communist organizations