President Javier Milei’s government is moving to overhaul the structure of Argentina’s intelligence agency through a presidential decree, with the changes set to begin in 2027. The state is dressing up the move as “professionalisation” and “depoliticisation,” but the machinery at the center of it all is still the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE), now being rebuilt with new rules, new promotions and expanded reach.
The reform introduces a new statute for personnel at SIDE, establishing open recruitment, competitive selection, specialised training and performance-based promotions. That means the people who work inside the agency will be sorted, filtered and managed through a more formal pipeline. The government says this will create a cleaner structure. It also means the intelligence apparatus gets a fresh coat of legitimacy while keeping its core function intact.
Who Gets to Run the Machine
The centrepiece of the latest reform is the creation of a new National Intelligence Corps. The government says it will be made up of agents selected according to professional qualifications and merit, rather than political connections or seniority. Candidates will be chosen through open recruitment and competitive examinations, giving SIDE what the government describes as a professional and depoliticised structure.
SIDE said in a statement announcing the changes: “During decades, our country’s Intelligence service suffered the consequences of improvisation, institutional degradation and the absence of a long-term policy.” It also said: “For the first time, SIDE will have a genuine intelligence career, with an open and transparent entry process and rigorous, competitive and depoliticised selection mechanisms.”
That’s the official script. The agency says the new system will finally give it a “genuine intelligence career.” The language is polished. The power remains concentrated.
Under the new system, seniority will no longer be the sole criterion for promotions. Minimum periods of service, physical and psychological fitness, mandatory training and favourable performance assessments will also be taken into account. In other words, the hierarchy gets more rules, more screening and more control over who rises inside it.
What the State Says It Needs
Government-friendly journalist Eduardo Feinmann reported on his A24 programme on September 14, citing government sources, that the administration believes people linked to the opposition have been placed within SIDE. The claim has not been independently established. Even so, the allegation lands in the middle of a broader push to tighten the agency’s structure and authority.
The issue comes amid separate allegations that SIDE has monitored political opponents and social organisations. A report last year by Página/12, citing a document obtained by journalist Hugo Alconada Mon, said the agency had gathered information on planned trade union protests, political meetings and activities involving opposition figures, trade unions, retirees and disability organisations. That’s the kind of surveillance that tells people exactly where the state’s attention goes: downward, toward those who organize, protest or simply exist outside the official line.
Opposition politicians have called for congressional scrutiny, while former intelligence officials have argued that collecting information on people solely because of their political views or lawful activities could violate Argentina’s Intelligence Law. The government has denied that SIDE is being used to persecute its critics.
The reform doesn’t arrive in a vacuum. It follows a broader reorganisation of the intelligence system, changes to SIDE’s leadership and expanded powers for the agency, as well as successive above-inflation increases in its budget. More money. More power. More structure. The same old state logic, just with better branding.
Built to Outlast Governments
The announcement comes just days after Milei proposed creating a National Security Council as part of a package of measures related to Argentina’s sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands. The timing matters. The state is not just reorganizing an agency; it’s building a more durable security framework around itself.
SIDE Secretary Cristian Auguadra said: “We are going to create the National Intelligence Corps, made up of the best profiles in Argentina.” He said the new statute seeks to build a corps that is “professional, modern and permanently at the service of the interests of Argentines”. He also said: “This reform seeks to build something that transcends governments and generations,” describing the new corps as a professional structure with an institutional identity.
That phrase says plenty. “Transcends governments and generations” means the apparatus is meant to outlive any one administration and keep its grip no matter who sits in office. The state calls that stability. Everyone else lives with the consequences.
SIDE says its members will have to be trained to “understand the world, anticipate threats and protect [Argentina’s] interests”. Auguadra said: “The reconstruction of the National Intelligence System is not merely about modernising structures. It means recovering an essential capability of the Argentine state.” He added that the process would begin with the selection of agents who were “competent, honest, highly trained and selected from among the best”.
Intelligence Undersecretary José Lago Rodríguez also backed the new framework. He said: “At SIDE, we seek to train the best professionals to defend the country’s interests,” and argued that the statute would allow the creation of a “stable, demanding and apolitical” career based on merit and professional excellence.
The language is all discipline, loyalty and state capacity. The people at the bottom get surveillance, scrutiny and a more polished intelligence service. The people at the top get a stronger machine.