More information has been leaked about the alleged secret plan for the SIDE intelligence services under the Javier Milei Presidency – apart from keeping an eye on “strategic players” wishing to “erode” confidence in the economy, agents have also been entrusted with investigating cyberoperators who might attack democracy, separatist Mapuche groups and anarchist groupings.
According to reporting from the Clarín newspaper, in a 170-page document delivered last October to the Congress Bicameral Intelligence Committee, SIDE chief Sergion Neiffert established “10 strategic lines” for the La Libertad Avanza government, aiming at collecting and studying information on issues such as the Malvinas Islands dispute, overfishing in the South Atlantic, the Antarctic, international terrorism, counterintelligence, the conflicts in the Middle East, organised crime and cybernetic security.
The reporting comes off the back of an investigative article by La Nación journalist Hugo Alcondra Mon, who warned the new plan could lead spying against journalists, experts, leaders of social organisations and opposition politicians.
In response to the claims, the bicameral intelligence committee of Congress, chaired by the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) Senator Martín Lousteau has summoned (without any particular date) the head of SIDE, Sergio Neiffert, to detail the objectives of the new plan, which was agreed in 2024. The vice-chairman of this committee is the Kirchnerite deputy Leopoldo Moreau and a further member is Rodolfo Tailhade, an ex-director of SIDE Counterintelligence.
According to Intelligence Law 25.520, "the members of the bicameral [committee] can make observations and request changes [to the plan] but are not authorised to accept or reject it,” explained Miguel Ángel Toma, SIDE chief during the Eduardo Duhalde caretaker presidency.
The plan was delivered last October and not in the previous March, as had previously been established, due to the ouster of Silvestre Sívori, the first SIDE chief under Milei.
The opposition has voiced its concerns over the intelligence agency including among its targets the “strategic players” who attempt to affect the credibility of the financial system or of the companies based in Argentina or who try to create mistrust in the government’s economic decisions via fake news.
The document does not speak of economists, opposition politicians or journalists but a former SIDE agent recognised that it was “a grave political error to speak of strategic players in that chapter because it opens up a wide range of possibilities.”
SIDE has not been permitted to submit domestic politics to intelligence work although since the recovery of democracy in 1983, most governments have been denounced on that score. Nevertheless, there is a big difference between tagging a “strategic player” and issuing an OB (Orden de Observación), which implies shadowing people or interfering in their prívate communications without a court order, said intelligence sources.
A further broad line of the plan marks out as targets local or global players who hamper economic development, disrupt supply chains or carry out illegal manoeuvres to form cartels – targets already identified by then president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2015 when she ordered SIDE to investigate “market coups” ahead of that year’s presidential elections.
According to the sources, surprise was also expressed over the aim of identifying those who create “narratives" using artificial intelligence or other means of rocking democratic institutions or affecting electoral results.
Attention was even drawn to outsourcing abroad to promote “disinformation,” perhaps referring to the trolls allegedly used by the Russian government to strongly influence the first electoral victory of the Republican Donald Trump in the United States.
Another phrase causing great concern refers to identifying the persons who wish to “alter” government decisions via false information. The SIDE plan also seeks to study global trends which signify “threats or risks” to democracy and Argentina’s constitutional order.
Another chapter speaks of informing about actions which promote "discrimination and hate against minorities,” identifying these as “xenophobic or ultra-nationalist.” More details are also expected about SIDE’s aim of placing “anarchists” under vigilance – according to the sources consulted by Clarín, there would be great concern about the local and international trends towards “more extremist politics.”
The plan also reportedly contains points referring to obtaining information about “separatism,” an apparent reference to the radical Mapuche groups such as RAM (Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche), whose best-known figure is Facundo Jones Huala, convicted for arson in Chile.
The document would also request SIDE assistance with the physical safety of the most important government officials, the courts and Congress as well as indicating the intention of identifying those who try to create fictitious conflicts with other states. Another objective is to anticipate attacks against “strategic infrastructure,” for example, the nuclear power plants of Atucha I and II and Río Tercero.
The most extensive chapters are related to cyberattacks, referring to operations of espionage, data and identity theft and disinformation.
Finally, they would try to identify the “cyberoperators” responding to other countries, persons using artificial intelligence or big data to endanger democracy and those pushing “narratives” from the deep web to attack the institutions.
The Milei administration has rejected reports that its new plan could lead to the persecution of its opponents.
"The Presidential Office denies the press reports published in media about the supposed objectives of the National Intelligence Plan,” reads its communiqué published last Sunday. “The National Intelligence Plan is a secret document establishing the broad lines of the intelligence system to promote the strategic interests of Argentina. Only the President, the Intelligence Secretaríat and the Congress Permanent Bicameral Committee to Monitor Intelligence have access to it.”
News of the national intelligence plan has triggered among press organisations such as FOPEA (Foro de Periodismo Argentino) and ADEPA (Asociación de Entidades Periodísticas Argentinas) as well as Amnesty International, who alerted as to the dangers of setbacks to the freedom of expression and the use of state machinery to tame the independent press.
FOPEA, for its part, posted a message on its X (ex-Twitter) account asking for “a free press to be respected without intimidation” while ADEPA repudiated the campaign of harassment and stigmatisation against journalists on the social networks.
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