Organization
SIDE is the head of the National Intelligence System, and also the biggest 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, somewhat like the American Federal Bureau of Investigation, SIDE frequently collaborates with the Justice System.
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. 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 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.
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.
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 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. 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.
Read more about this topic: Argentine Intelligence
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