Secretaría de Inteligencia (Intelligence Secretariat, S.I.) is the premier intelligence agency of the Argentine Republic and head of its National Intelligence System.

Chaired by the Secretary of State Intelligence who is a special member of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Secretariat of Intelligence is a technical and operational service charged with the collection and production of intelligence and counterintelligence in internal and foreign areas, as well as the analysis and formation of a national intelligence strategy in order to handle state affairs. The Secretariat is charged with the duty of producing a complete intelligence cycle for the government. Structurally, S.I. has the biggest intelligence gathering capabilities in Argentina, as it counts with numerous delegations within Argentina as well as foreign operational bases and delegations.

Under the law, the Secretariat is subordinated to the National Presidential Office and is ruled by secret decrees and laws.In 2005, the Senate of Argentina abolished secret laws, it is not clear how it has affected the Secretariat. Even though the official acronym was renamed to S.I. as the new intelligence system became active,Article 51 of the Intelligence Reform Law 25.520 renames SIDE (Secretaría de Inteligencia de Estado) to S.I. (Secretaría de Inteligencia) and abolishes secret decree 416/76. during most of its history it was called Secretaría de Inteligencia de Estado (Secretariat of State Intelligence, SIDE) and it still is referred to as SIDE by the public.

History

Before CIDE was established, national intelligence was jointly handled by the División de Informaciones (Information Division, DI) of the National Presidential Office, and the military intelligence services such as the Servicio de Inteligencia del Ejército (Army Intelligence Service, SIE) and the Servicio de Inteligencia Naval (Naval Intelligence Service, SIN). Even though throughout Argentina's history military intelligence organs have been involved in handling both internal and external intelligence, reforms enacted in the last few decades have legally given them a role alongside civilian managed services in the National Intelligence System. Intelligence Reform Law 25.520 also created the National Directorate of Strategic Military Intelligence, charged with the coordination of all the Argentine Armed Forces military intelligence services.

The Secretariat (as it is commonly referred) had its first structural and functional reform in 1956, under the Pedro Aramburu government when by Executive Decree 776/56 of January 20, CIDE adopted the name Secretaría de Informaciones de Estado (Secretariat of State Information), and the subsequent famous acronym "SIDE". The newly restructured agency was closely modeled on the British intelligence system.