The government of Javier Milei approved Decree 864/2025, which establishes the first policy National Intelligence formally in more than 20 yearswith the aim of modernizing the system and expanding capabilities Cyber defenseprotect strategic resources and reorganize the operational structure State Secretariat (PAGE).
The impact remains to be seen, but the novelty lies in it Renewing the approach of the intelligence services, more than two decades since its last update and in the new perspective on sovereignty.
The 34-page document presents a modernization of the national intelligence and defense strategy. Positioning SIDE as a driver of the National Intelligence System and assigning new tools and roles.
In matters Cybersecurityyou need to Ensuring protection against threats in cyberspace, disinformation and attacks from outside. It will also be responsible for strategic resources and national sovereignty such as natural resources, critical infrastructure, border areas, maritime zones and the Antarctic projection.
On the other hand, SIDE will take action against terrorism and organized crimeassumes the role of preventing criminal networks and focuses on structures specialized in drug trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking and terrorist threats with a regional or global reach.
Concerning the protection of the territories of the Argentine StateSIDE will continue to be responsible for counterintelligence and institutional securityConducting the detection of foreign intelligence operations, espionage, interference, threats to institutional stability and sovereignty.
Another important point of Decree 864/2025 is that international cooperationfor the the Cooperation with other countriesthe exchange of information, the control of external influences and the Redefining Argentina’s positioning in global geopolitics.
In this sense, An important agreement was signed with the United States in Octoberbetween the Ministry of National Security, the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) and the FBI, as part of the recently unveiled National Anti-Terrorist Center (CNA).
Finally, the government of Javier Milei will promote this Modernize intelligence in several key directions: Professionalization, technologization, organic redefinition of organizations and updating of regulations after decades of waiting.
To conduct a comprehensive analysis of the National Intelligence Policy, DEF agreed with Edgardo Glavinich’s opinion, Executive Director of the Sherman Kent Foundation, ret Think tank for Strategic Intelligence based in Argentina and National Secretary of the Argentine Council for Comprehensive Security (CAPSI).
The consultant specializing in strategic intelligence defines Decree 864/2025 as the most ambitious and technically sophisticated effort in Argentina’s democratic history and considers it “a strategic and technically superior document to most documents published at regional level.” Aside from that, points out The specificity of the document manages to combine strategic information with historical sovereignty claims. such as the Malvinas and the disputed marine spaces, in a way that few Latin American documents achieve.
However, the new National Intelligence Policy must become a reality, he indicated Three necessary reforms. The first is the creation of one Economic and Competitive Information Directorate to protect the country’s economic and productive capacities. Secondly, it keeps setting up one Future Threat and Anomaly Analysis Directoratewith a focus on physical (pandemic, climate), digital (such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing) and biological threats, both natural and man-made, such as dual gene editing, bioterrorism and possible unintended consequences of new biotechnologies.
For the Argentine case, powers to fully inspect the activities of SIDE and National Intelligence organizations are proposedAuthority to receive complaints with confidentiality protection for whistleblowers and obligation to submit annual reports to Congress in a fully secret version and a declassified public version.
The third and final reform focuses on control with the Institutionalization des independent inspector general of the secret servicea civil service position introduced by Australia that provides for a non-renewable term of office of seven years, staff by experts, independent budget controlled by parliament and You have the legal authority to access all classified information without exception.
Again, Glavinich warned against this Consequences of the lack of control over the secret services with cases such as the Pegasus software in Mexico, the “Parallel ABIN” in Brazil and the “Chuzadas” scandal in Colombia, three emblematic cases of espionage at high levels of the state.
Finally, the specialist concluded that “Argentina has a historic opportunity to lead the regional transformation toward a strategic intelligence model that combines technical sophistication accountability effectively democratic,” although it depends on its ability to “build an institutional architecture that allows this vision to be implemented in a professional, legal and democratically legitimate manner and sustainably.”
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