President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announces reform of intelligence services (Photo via CFKargentina)
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced yesterday that she was sending a bill to Congress to reform the country’s intelligence services.
Speaking to the nation in a TV broadcast, the president said the existing Intelligence Secretariat (SI) would be dissolved and replaced by a new Federal Intelligence Agency with “completely different governing principles”.
“This is a debt in our democracy that all governments have carried since 1983,” said President Fernández, who appeared in a wheelchair due to a broken ankle suffered last month.
The new Federal Intelligence Agency will be led a director and assistant director that are appointed by the Executive but require approval from the Senate to start performing their duties. Both positions will have a mandate of four years.
Meanwhile, control of the current System of Judicial Observations, which is responsible for tapping phones, will be transferred to the Public Prosecutor Ministry. The president said this was because the ministry operates uniquely outside of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government.
Other reforms in the proposed bill include: a ban on interactions between public officials and intelligence agents, unless conducted via the director or assistant director of the agency; the creation of data protection banks to ensure that private information is gathered and stored only when necessary; prison sentences of up to ten years for those who illegally intercept communications; and criminal charges for any public official or employee who makes contact with intelligence agents outside of institutional channels.
The proposal comes a week after the sudden death of AMIA prosecutor Alberto Nisman, which the government, including President Fernández, has linked to recent personnel changes made in the SI. The president also claimed yesterday that the Intelligence Secretariat was behind a “bombardment” of accusations against the Executive since the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Iran as part of the investigation into the 1994 AMIA bombing.
“I will not bow to extortion, or intimation,” said Fernández. “I’m not afraid – they can say what they want, or make the accusations they want. I’m not interested whether judges call me to court, or prosecutors make accusations about me, I’m not going to change my mind one bit.”
The initiative was applauded by ruling party legislators, but some opposition candidates criticised the president’s message.
“The State Intelligence cannot be corrected with a law, but with a change of government,” said presidential hopeful Ernesto Sanz, of the Radical (UCR) Party.
“There is no substantial change,” declared PRO Senator Gabriela Michetti. “Phone tapping by the judiciary will now have to go through [Public Prosecutor] Alejandra Gils Carbó, and we all know by now who Gils Carbó responds to and about the problems of keeping the Public Prosecutor’s Office independent of the Executive.”
Meanwhile, former Supreme Court judge Raúl Zaffaroni said the initiative “takes the bull by the horns”. He added: “judging by the development of the current Intelligence Secretariat, any change will be positive.”
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