Comprehensive Reform of the Argentine Intelligence System: AFI Dissolved, New Agencies Created

By means of Decree 614/2024, published in the Official Gazette on July 16, 2024, the Executive Branch dissolved the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI). The Secretariat of State Intelligence (SIDE) was created to replace it, to redefine and improve the regulatory framework of the Argentine Intelligence Service.

Four deconcentrated agencies were created under SIDE’s scope:

1. Argentine Intelligence Service (SIA): In charge of the production of foreign intelligence, focused on obtaining, gathering, and analyzing information related to threats that may affect national interests in different fields.
2. National Security Agency (ASN): Its focus will cover national and international organized crime, such as drug trafficking and weapons proliferation.
3. Internal Affairs Division (DAI): In charge of promoting internal audits and investigations.
4. Federal Cybersecurity Agency (AFC): Exclusively dedicated to the protection against cybercrime and the protection of critical infrastructures and strategic data.

The reform places strong emphasis on the AFC, to which it attributes the following missions:

• Technological modernization: Design and implement innovative technologies to improve the system's technical capabilities, ensuring it is equipped to meet today's challenges.
• Security and controlled access: Guarantee appropriate levels of access and security measures to protect the sensitive information collected, enabling its integration with other state agencies and ensuring its availability for the operations of the National Intelligence System.
• Specialized training: Together with the corresponding agencies, it will train members of the National Intelligence System and the public sector in the effective use and application of technologies used in the field of cybersecurity and technological intelligence.

Another relevant aspect of the new regulation is that it limits the interaction between the judicial system and intelligence services. The latter may only collaborate with judicial investigations in exceptional cases.

Finally, the new regulation urges the National Public Prosecutor's Office to create a Specialized Intelligence Prosecutor's Office to cooperate with SIDE and the agencies within the scope of its competence, thereby strengthening judicial control over intelligence activities.

This regulatory reform is in line with the recent ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which—among other aspects—ordered  regulating the access and use of intelligence information as evidence in judicial cases.

The full text of the Resolution can be accessed here.