Latin America’s latest agency in the intelligence community has entered the operations field under a name change and an expanded organisation. The Secretaria de Inteligencia del Estado (The Secretariat of State Intelligence) is the Argentinian Presidency’s new attempt to reorganize a historically troubled, political secret police into an efficient and objective national security service.

The Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (National Security Agency) and the Servicio de Inteligencia Argentino (Argentina Intelligence Service) are the recently created divisions of the secretariat that will replace this same year the heavily criticized and politically compromised Agencia Federal de Información (Federal Information Bureau). (Source)

Argentinian intelligence is now faced with the opportunity and challenges of evolving its information services to an international standard. Barriers to success range from political interference from the national opposition to previously damaged relations with other international agencies. (Source) (Source). 

Key Judgement 1. It is highly likely that the Argentinian intelligence services will face funding issues and a shortage of personnel during its initial reorganization. 

Key Judgement 2. There is a realistic probability that political interference from the national opposition will be the biggest threat to the reorganization of the service. 

Key Judgement 3. It is likely that the changes in the organisation will restore the institution’s relationships with its international counterparts.