Former Argentinian Intelligence agency
Secretariat of Intelligence
|
|
|
Formed
| 1946
|
---|
Preceding Agency
| - Secretaria de Inteligencia de Estado (SIDE)
|
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Dissolved
| 2015
|
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Superseding agency
| |
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Type
| Intelligence
|
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Headquarters
| Ave. 25 de Mayo 11,
Buenos Aires
|
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Agency executives
| |
---|
Secretariat of Intelligence
(
Spanish
:
Secretaria de Inteligencia
, SIDE) was the premier
intelligence agency
of the
Argentine Republic
and head of its
National Intelligence System
.
Chaired by the
Secretary of State Intelligence
who is a special member of the
Cabinet of Ministers
, the Secretariat of Intelligence was a technical and operational service charged with the collection and production of
intelligence
and
counterintelligence
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
[1]
for the government. Structurally, S.I. had the biggest intelligence gathering capabilities in Argentina, as it counts with numerous delegations within
Argentina
as well as foreign operational bases and delegations.
Under the law, the Secretariat was subordinated to the
Presidency
[2]
and is ruled by secret decrees and laws.
[3]
Even though the official acronym was renamed to S.I. as the new
intelligence system
became active,
[4]
during most of its history it was called Secretaria 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
's death, President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
announced she was proposing legislation that would dissolve the (SI) and opening a new intelligence agency called the
Federal Intelligence Agency
(AFI).
[5]
History
[
edit
]
The Secretariat of Intelligence was created in 1946 when
Juan Peron
's first presidency established it by Executive Decree 337/46 under the denomination of
Coordinacion de Informaciones de Estado
(
State Intelligence Coordination
, CIDE). Its mission was to act as a national
intelligence agency
to be run by civilian personnel and to handle foreign and domestic
intelligence operations
for the
federal government
.
Before CIDE was established, national
intelligence
was jointly handled by the
Division de Informaciones
(
Information Division
, DI) of the
Presidency
, and the military intelligence services such as the
Servicio de Inteligencia del Ejercito
(
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
.
[6]
The Secretariat (as it is commonly referred) had its first structural and functional reform in 1956, under the
Pedro Aramburu
government when by Executive Decree 776/56 of January 20, CIDE adopted the name
Secretaria de Informaciones de Estado
(
Secretariat of State Information
), and the subsequent famous
acronym
"SIDE". The newly restructured
agency
was closely modeled on the
British
intelligence system.
During
Juan Carlos Ongania
's government, SIDE was under the administration of General Senorans, 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 Senorans 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, Senorans 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 Senorans had a phobia of females, and would not tolerate women working in administrative positions.
[
citation needed
]
In that same year, a failed kidnapping attempt of the Soviet Consul in Buenos Aires, led the
USSR
to enact a formal protest, threatening to take the matters to international organizations.
[
citation needed
]
Ongania, against his will, had no other choice but to ask Senorans to resign, the Secretary in his final statement exposed that
"Consul Petrov commands a group of spies of the
KGB
in Argentina".
After Senorans departure, women regained their positions in the civil intelligence community, but it was at that time, with the onset of the
Cold War
, that the
CIA
began taking special interest in SIDE. The growth of
communist
groups and guerrillas in Latin America, backed by
Fidel Castro
'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
issued Executive Decree 416 changing the name of the agency to
Secretaria de Inteligencia de Estado
or "SIDE".
[4]
Under the
National Reorganization Process
, SIDE transformed itself into a
secret police
conducting espionage on
guerrilla
organizations,
labor unions
, or any other organization or person considered subversive, or a supporter of subversive activities. SIDE also took part in coordinating
Operation Condor
with other
Latin American
intelligence services.
After the return of democracy in 1983, during
Raul Alfonsin
's government, SIDE began renewing its staff, thus becoming a civilian intelligence agency focusing its activities entirely on national interests.
[7]
In December 2001, the Intelligence Reform Law was approved,
[8]
changing the structure, denomination and functions to adapt it to the new
National Intelligence System
.
In February 2001, during the
Fernando de la Rua
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
violations during the
National Reorganization Process
. 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 Alfonsin administration.
During October 2003, under
Nestor Kirchner
's government, a crackdown on illegal
phone taps
, as well as political and ideological espionage was ordered to Secretary of Intelligence
Sergio Acevedo
. 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
[
edit
]
In the aftermath of the 1992
Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires
, 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
threat.
Foreign intelligence agencies cooperated in the formation on subjects as
Islamic terrorism
and how to neutralize it. The U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency
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
and
Arabic
languages and history, and how to handle operations with people and organizations pertaining to such cultures.
After the 1994
AMIA Bombing
, SIDE recognized that Islamic terrorism became an extremely serious threat to national security. A plan codenamed Operation Centaur (
Operacion 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.
[9]
Its reports detailed the existence and activities of terrorist organizations in the area, which benefited from the huge black market in
Paraguay
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
,
Brazil
,
Paraguay
,
France
and
Germany
. The Sala Patria group,
[10]
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
Asuncion
,
Paraguay
.
Organization
[
edit
]
SIDE is the head of the
National Intelligence System
, and also the largest intelligence agency of Argentina.
[11]
It depends on the Presidency. It reports to the President of Argentina, who is required to set the national intelligence plan and policy.
[8]
Besides being an intelligence agency that handles foreign and internal intelligence, it also assists nationwide criminal investigations,
[12]
somewhat like the American
Federal Bureau of Investigation
, SIDE frequently collaborates with the
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
law enforcement agencies
.
[13]
The ENI also analyzes
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
[14]
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
National Directorate of Criminal Intelligence
.
[12]
[15]
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.
[16]
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
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 attache', or 'Tourism consultant' are the most frequently used.
The current Secretary of Intelligence is
Hector Icazuriaga
and the Undersecretary is
Francisco Larcher
, both appointed by President
Nestor Kirchner
. 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 Direccion de Finanzas (
Finances Directorate
), which handles all of the Secretariat's accounting and budget balancing.
Objectives
[
edit
]
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)
[8]
- 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
National Congress
(as per Law 25.520)
[8]
- 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
[
edit
]
The Secretariat's main interest points are the following:
- International
terrorism
, including the terrorist attacks against the
Argentine Israelite Mutual Association
(AMIA) and the
Israeli Embassy
in
Buenos Aires
.
- Religious fundamentalism.
- Organized crime, including
mafias
,
drug trafficking
,
arms trafficking
and
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
migrations
and development of
natives
of the Americas.
- Proliferation of
massive destruction weapons
(nuclear, chemical, biological).
- Ecological problems that can be considered potential risks for
national security
.
- National and foreign advances in
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 American
and
European
countries with the purpose of identifying instability, conflicts and crises which may cause a direct or indirect repercussion on national interests.
Structure
[
edit
]
Internally composed of three Subsecretarias (
Undersecretariats
): Interior, Exterior (
Foreign
), and Apoyo (
Support
). all of its divisions have specific identification
numbers
assigned.
- Subsecretaria de Inteligencia Interior (
Undersecretariat of Interior Intelligence
) (8):
responsible for production and dissemination of
intelligence
in internal areas. For this purpose, it is subdivided into several Direcciones (
Directorates
) which are in charge of specific political, economic and social factors.
- Direccion 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.
- Direccion de Reunion 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.
- Direccion de Observaciones Judiciales
(
Directorate of Judicial Surveillance
) (84):
responsible for carrying out telephone, mail, and other communication interceptions mandated by judicial officers.
- Direccion de Contrainteligencia (
Directorate of Counterintelligence
) (85):
responsible for
counterintelligence
and
counterespionage
activities. It has
intelligence
and technical-operational areas which carry out specific duties.
- Direccion de Comunicacion Social (
Directorate of Social Communication
):
responsible for the analysis and collection of public information (i.e.:
mass media
).
- Subsecretaria de Inteligencia Exterior (
Undersecretariat of Foreign Intelligence
) (3):
responsible of the collection and production of
intelligence
on foreign areas.
- Direccion de Reunion Exterior (
Directorate of Foreign Collection
):
responsible for the collection and diffusion of
intelligence
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).
- Direccion de Inteligencia Exterior (
Directorate of Foreign Intelligence
) (32):
responsible for the production of state
intelligence
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)
[10]
- Processes of the Proliferation of Weapons of Massive Destruction.
- Subsecretaria 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
[
edit
]
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
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 L. Martinez de Hoz
. Inaugurated in 1930, was originally used as a housing called "Martinez de Hoz Building". In 1940 the
federal government
bought it. Valued at US$1,607,022, its street surface is 413 square meters, inside it is 5430 square meters; and it has ten floors, the fifth floor being the Secretary of Intelligence's office, and the tenth floor the
special operations
division.
Security on the facility is meticulously strict, the whole building is covered with dark tinted windows, and when a person approaches the door, guards inquire the visitor for his or her name and the reason of visit. Once they are approved to enter, they must go through a metal detector and be accompanied throughout the visit by a staff member who will guide the visitor through the building and provide the necessary magnetic card to access restricted areas.
Two annexes in Ave. 25 de Mayo are internally connected to the main facility thus extending the Secretariat's offices. Surveillance around the whole surroundings of the
Presidential Palace
and
Plaza de Mayo
is tight for obvious reasons. In the late 1960s, there was a serious incident when members of
Montoneros
breached the building and stayed inside for a whole weekend, taking objects, folders, and other sensitive material.
During the late 1970s and 1980s, the tenth floor of the Correo Central building was provided to the Secretariat to be used for mail interception.
Official list of the Secretariat's facilities
Name
|
Location
|
Details
|
First annex
|
Ave. 25 de Mayo 33
|
Constructed: 1931. Style:
Art deco
. Street surface: 285 m2. Internal surface: 6.000 m2. Estimated monetary value: U$S 2.049.256. Backdoor access: Ave. Leandro N. Alem 14.
|
Second annex
|
Ave. 25 de Mayo 35/37
|
Constructed: 1965. Street surface: 364 m2. Internal surface: 6.000 m2. Estimated monetary value: U$S 2.049.256. Backdoor access: Ave. Leandro N. Alem.
|
Pasaje Barolo
|
Ave. de Mayo 1366/70/80
|
Offices on the 8th floor. Annex of the Counterintelligence directorate.
|
Estados Unidos base (
85
, Counterintelligence)
|
Ave. Estados Unidos 3057
|
Constructed: 1967. Modified: 1983. Street surface: 838 m2. Internal surface: 1.568 m2. Estimated monetary value: U$S 121.812.
|
Billinghurst base (
22
, Interior Intelligence)
|
Ave. Billinghurst 2484
|
Street surface: 1.266 m2. Estimated monetary value: U$S 164.468.
|
Transnational Crime and International Terrorism
[10]
(
34
)
|
Ave. Coronel Diaz 2079
|
Constructed: 1981. Street surface: 314 m2. Internal surface: 794 m2. Estimated monetary value: U$S 311.459.
|
Directorate of Judicial Surveillance
(
84
)
|
Ave. de los Incas 3834
|
Internal surface: 2.500 m2. Estimated monetary value: U$S 1.577.443.
|
National Intelligence School
|
Ave. Libertad 1235
|
Constructed: 1922. Parking lot added in 1970. Small rooms, wooden floors. Style: Academic. Street surface: 2.515 m2. Internal surface: 3.775 m2. Estimated monetary value: U$S $724.178.
|
Aeropuerto Ministro Pistarini (
Ezeiza International Airport
) and Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (
Buenos Aires Domestic Airport
)
|
Surveillance bases depending from the counterintelligence directorate.
|
Chubut delegation
|
Hipolito Yrigoyen 1126,
Trelew
|
Province of Chubut
|
Mendoza delegation
|
Montevideo 531,
Mendoza
|
Province of Mendoza
|
Santa Cruz delegation
|
Urquiza 80,
Rio Gallegos
|
Province of Santa Cruz
|
Note: all addresses are in
Buenos Aires
unless otherwise specified.
|
Other facilities of unknown status:
Infrastructure
[
edit
]
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
and
Telefonica
of Argentina,
Movistar
,
Nextel
, CTI Movil, and
Compania de Radiocomuncaciones Moviles, S.A.
Data processing computers for SIDE are provided by Bull.
[17]
In 2001, under Secretary of Intelligence
Fernando de Santibanes
, the Secretariat began a major upgrade of its computer infrastructure.
Personnel
[
edit
]
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
for the Secretariat.
[18]
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
[
edit
]
Citizens are recruited into SIDE using a well-known and widely used method by worldwide
intelligence agencies
during the
Cold War
. 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
Ongania
government, under the command of Secretary of Intelligence Gral. Senorans, 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
), 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
[
edit
]
'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, Tiumayu 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
[
edit
]
The Secretary and Undersecretary of Intelligence are referred as "Senor Cinco" (
Mr. Five
) and "Senor 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 "Senor Tres" (
Mr. Three
) for the Undersecretary of Foreign Intelligence and "Senor Nueve" (
Mr. Nine
) for the Undersecretary of Logistics.
Cafeterias
in buildings of the Secretariat are referred to as "casinos".
Although unconfirmed, the name "Senor Cinco" is alleged to the 1956 restructuring of SIDE, closely modelled on the
British
MI6
whose first director was Captain Sir
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 "Senor
C
inco" 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
Direccion de Observaciones Judiciales
(
Directorate of Judicial Surveillance
, DOJ) is referred to as "Ojota" (
Sandal
); furthermore, "Ojota" implies "Ojo" (
Eye
).
Numbers
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
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 Sofia 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.
[19]
In 2005,
Tiempo de Valientes
, a comedy made by
Damian Szifron
dealt with the age old rivalry between the Secretariat and the
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.
[20]
In the
American
ABC
TV show
Alias
,
Nadia Santos
(
Mia Maestro
) is an ex-SIDE
agent
who now works for the
CIA
. 'Argentine intelligence' has been referenced several times in the show.
Publications
[
edit
]
Every three months, SIDE publishes an official
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
[21]
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
[22]
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
[
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]
Dirty War
[
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]
The SIDE played a role during the Dirty War and participated in
Operation Condor
, the international network of South American intelligence agencies. A secret detention camp for Operation Condor 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
DINA
, and the
Uruguayan
intelligence service
. The objective was to murder, if possible at the same time, three special personalities living in
Paris
, France:
Isabel Allende
(daughter of
Salvador Allende
,
Chile
),
Rodolfo Matarollo
(member of the
ERP
,
Argentina
), 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
DINA
director
Manuel Contreras
, and was planned out in the Billinghurst base in Buenos Aires, previous approval of Argentine dictator
Jorge Rafael Videla
.
The assassinations were to be carried with 9 mm or .22 caliber guns brought to France via Argentine
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
[
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]
When
Hector Jose Campora
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
Cafe La Biela
in the neighbourhood of
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 Cafe La Biela, two of the Cuban delegates fell for the
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
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 Anos
[
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]
On October 28, 1995,
Enrique Gorriaran Merlo
, Argentina's most wanted
terrorist
, was captured in the little town of
Tepoztlan
, 60 miles away
Mexico City
, and extradited back to
Argentina
. 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
, and for orchestrating the
1989 attack on the La Tablada military barracks
by the
MTP
group.
Merlo, who claims it was a kidnapping orchestrated by SIDE,
[23]
had traveled to
Mexico
to meet with Mexican politicians of the
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
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
Tepoztlan
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 Gorriaran 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
Tepoztlan
and the interrogation was present.
The operation was allegedly carried out by the Sala Patria
[10]
group of the Secretariat.
[24]
Gorrarian Merlo served prison time in Argentina for his crimes, and was later pardoned in 2003 by
President
Eduardo Duhalde
.
AMIA investigation
[
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]
Judicial reports during the investigation have displayed sufficient evidence of SIDE's involvement in the
AMIA case
investigation. In 2003,
President
Nestor Kirchner
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.
[10]
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
Argentine
Embassy
in
Beirut
, the
Brazilian Intelligence Service
, and the
Argentine
Consulate
in
Milan
warned SIDE about the attack on the Jewish organization.
Operation Cabildo
[
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]
Juan Jose Galeano
, the judge in charge of the
AMIA Bombing
investigation, asked
Hugo Anzorreguy
to help him advance the investigation by bribing a key witness who refused to testify,
Carlos Telledin
. 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 Telledin's wife,
Ana Boragni
in a
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
Nestor Kirchner
's push for new leads on the case.
Surveillance of foreign embassies
[
edit
]
During the 1960s, SIDE set up constant surveillance on embassies from the
Eastern bloc
as well as other
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.
Sofia Fijman incident
[
edit
]
In the late 1990s, an employee of the Secretariat in charge of the
National Intelligence School's
security was convicted for murder. For more information see the
School's incidents
.
Operation Cipres
[
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]
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
in 1992, and the
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
AMIA building
through her connection in the Buenos Aires
islamic
community. It is suspected that Dos Santos worked, or works for the
Brazilian Intelligence Service
, or the Brazilian
Police
.
Furthermore, a few weeks before the bombing, Dos Santos entered the
Argentine
,
Israeli
, and
Brazilian
consulates in
Milan
,
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 Cipres
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
[10]
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
.
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
special counter-terrorism team
of the
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.
[25]
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
.
[26]
Breakdown of CIA relations
[
edit
]
In January 2001,
Pagina/12
newspaper published an article
[27]
on the Secretariat's troubled relations with the American
Central Intelligence Agency
(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 American
division in the CIA. Official reports say that the CIA wanted SIDE to investigate the operations of the
Russian Mafia
and ex-
KGB
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
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
[28]
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
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
[
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]
In 2001, the government under
President
Fernando de la Rua
used the Secretariat's reserved funds to orchestrate the bribery of several senators in the
Argentine Congress
. The motive behind the operation was to assure the promotion of a labor reform law that De La Rua was promoting. When the level of involvement of the Executive Branch became known to the public, a national scandal broke out and De La Rua's administration took heavy criticism.
The Secretariat was then under the command of banker
Fernando de Santibanes
, a close friend of then President De La Rua, 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 Rua asked Fernando De Santibanes to resign. He was charged with participating in the
Senate
bribes case.
In 2013, a Federal Jury found that President De la Rua and Fernando de Santibanes, together with other officials and senators, were innocent of the allegations.
Assassination of Piqueteros
[
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]
The Justice system and the press blame the Secretariat participating in the organization of events in 2002 that led to the deaths of
Dario Santillan
and
Maximiliano Kosteki
, two
piqueteros
who were protesting on the
Pueyrredon Bridge
in
Buenos Aires
. Both men were shot in the back by
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
FARC
.
[29]
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 Rodriguez.
[29]
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
has established a non-repressive policy towards the Piqueteros.
In 2005, President Nestor 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.
[30]
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
Billinghurst base
were the phone calls originated and proceeded to deface the property and manifest public outrage towards the organization.
[31]
It was the first time ever people protested at one of SIDE's facilities.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
The Intelligence Cycle
,
Central Intelligence Agency
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
Presidency of Argentina.
URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
In 2005, the
Senate of Argentina
abolished secret laws, it is not clear how it has affected the Secretariat.
- ^
a
b
Article 51 of the
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
renames SIDE (
Secretaria de Inteligencia de Estado
) to S.I. (
Secretaria de Inteligencia
) and abolishes secret decree 416/76.
- ^
Agencia Federal de Inteligencia
,
Law 27126 - Modification
- ^
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
also created the
National Directorate of Strategic Military Intelligence
, charged with the coordination of all the
Argentine Armed Forces
military intelligence services.
- ^
Argentina's intelligence after ten years of democracy
,
Federation of American Scientists
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
created the
National Intelligence System
.
- ^
The Latin Connection
,
The Jamestown Foundation
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Sala Patria
was a
covert operations group
dependant of the Undersecretariat of Foreign Intelligence. Two famous staff members named by the
Argentine
press frequently,
Alejandro Brousson
and
Patricio Miguel Finnen
led this group.
Sala Patria
was first assigned to capture Enrique Gorriaran Merlo and then leading the AMIA investigation on foreign soil. The group was also involved in famous operations such as the
Nasrim Mokhtari fiasco
, and the
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 bombing
.
- ^
Executive and legislative oversight of the intelligence system in Argentina
, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
a
b
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
created the
National Directorate of Criminal Intelligence
, charged with the coordination of internal criminal intelligence from the security forces.
- ^
National Decree 1536/1991
,
President of Argentina
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
,
Argentine National Congress
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
The
Intelligence Reform Law 25.520
also established new legislations regarding the
Directorate of Judicial Surveillance
, to make the organization more efficient and transparent.
- ^
Article 24 of the
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.
- ^
Bull
, company's official website. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
El Gobierno pasa a controlar las tareas de inteligencia militar
,
Clarin
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
AMIA: un testigo apunto a la SIDE
,
Clarin
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
Tiempo de valientes
at
IMDb
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
Los sospechosos de siempre: Historia del espionaje en la Argentina
, Jorge Boimvaser. URL accessed on February 7, 2006.
- ^
"La Side - Gerardo Young - Libros"
. Archived from
the original
on 2007-05-07.
- ^
Gorrarian Merlo's narration of the story of his kidnapping was published in a
Pagina/12 newspaper interview.
- ^
Toranzo, Rodrigo 08-10-03
,
Government of Argentina
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
Nadie quiere correr con los gastos de la irani
,
Clarin
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
De terrorista internacional a internada en el Moyano
,
Pagina/12
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
El continuismo de la SIDE
,
Pagina/12
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
La CIA traslada a su agente local
,
Pagina/12
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
a
b
The politicians responsible for the massacre
Archived
2012-02-05 at the
Wayback Machine
, MasacreAvellaneda.org. URL accessed on August 25, 2006.
- ^
National Decree 538/2005
,
President of Argentina
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
- ^
Escrache a la SIDE
,
Indymedia
. URL accessed on April 23, 2006.
External links
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34°36′25″S
58°22′14″W
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34.607°S 58.3706°W
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