President Javier Milei’s government has expanded the budget of SIDE intelligence services by 7.366 billion pesos, just days after announcing a 200-billion-peso fund for the reconstruction of storm-hit Bahía Blanca.
Of the new funds, almost a quarter – 1.625 billion pesos – has been earmarked for discretionary “reserved” expenditure by the organisation, which depends directly on President Javier Milei.
Last week, Milei announced just 10 billion pesos in funding for troubled Bahía Blanca, which was struck by torrential storms on March 7, devastating the region and flooding large areas of the port city. After heavy criticism, he boosted the tally to 200 million pesos during a visit to the coastal city midweek.
Since taking office in December 2023, Milei has slashed state spending across the board, though intelligence has suffered less than other sectors of the government.
The fresh funds for SIDE forms part of the first budget amendment of the year, as established by emergency decree DNU 186/2025 published Thursday in the Official Gazette.
The budget booster of 7,366,286,591 pesos for SIDE falls under the “Information and Intelligence” programme with the aim of improving defence and security.
The new funds are for both current and capital expenditure, the former accounting for 6.344 billion pesos and the latter 1.022 billion.
Among the current expenditure, payments to staff account for 885 million pesos, consumer items like food, clothing and various products of daily use for a further 1.145 billion while the rest of the money goes on electricity, gas, and water bills, communications, rents, cleaning services and travel expenses. The aforementioned reserve funds of 1.625 billion is the leading item, followed by the consumer items and rentals absorbing around a billion pesos of the increase.
The reserve expenditures are funds destined to intelligence activities whose specific use cannot be made public for reasons of national security, being only subject to the Congress bicameral committee to monitor intelligence activities.
The capital expenditure refers to machinery, means of transport and communication and computation among other items.
Political analysts say the intelligence services are monitored by Milei’s influential presidential advisor Santiago Caputo, who does not have an official government role.
The current head of SIDE, Sergio Neiffert, is said to be backed by Caputo, who reportedly had a role in selecting him as Argentina's top spy chief.
– TIMES/NA
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