Reform of notorious eavesdropping agency by prosecutor could take time
The shadowy world of the secret services has been jolted by recent reform and a baptism of fire of the newly-created Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI), but there has not been so many changes among those charged with dealing with the sensitive phone-tapping records, it seems.
Prosecutor Cristina Caamaño was entrusted with the Telecommunications Interception Directorate (DICOM) and she also absorbed the majority of the personnel who used to carry out wiretappings in times when the task was in the hands of the Intelligence Secretariat (SI, formerly known as SIDE).
Sources told the Herald that about 15 percent of those carrying out the phone-tapping have been appointed by the Attorney General’s Office recently but the rest of the staff is part of the secret services. Alejandra Gils Carbó has vowed to make the bureau’s practices more transparent and to democratize the area, but the process could take longer than expected.
Caamaño — a progressive prosecutor and one of Gils Carbó’s closest allies — arrived at the building located on Los Incas Avenue a day after AFI head Oscar Parrilli signed the transfer of the phone tapping bureau to the Attorney General’s Office.
According to sources, before her arrival, around 80 agents who used to carry out the phone tapping records requested to be relieved from duty or asked to be transferred to the AFI.
There are about 120 others who worked for the SI and several of them have started the paperwork for retirement, but not all of them will be able to leave the bureau, sources said.
The Attorney General’s Office wants to purify the bureau, but sources made it clear that they need the former SI agents to train those who were appointed by Gils Carbó during the last week.
In December last year, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner shook up the SI, reportedly after Héctor Icazuriaga and his number two, Francisco “Paco” Larcher failed to dismiss Antonio “Jaime” Stiuso, their third in command and the SI chief of Operations. A reform of the intelligence agency was unveiled 10 days after former AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead of a gunshot to the head after having filed a criminal complaint where he accused CFK of seeking to whitewash the Iranian involvement in the 1994 AMIA Jewish community centre attack. The Pink House believed Stiuso was behind Nisman’s complaint and mysterious death.
When the SI was reshuffled, Parrilli was appointed along with lawyer Juan Martín Mena — who served as Justice Minister Julio Alak’s Cabinet chief and was one of the main experts in the AMIA case. Parrilli decided to make new appointments to the infamous OJOTA office, the bureau in charge of conducting wiretaps. The OJOTA was long believed to be autonomous and that it was used for espionage.
The OJOTA had more than 24 delegations throughout the country, but in an attempt to control the activity of the secret agents, Parrilli suspended the activity of all those offices. The only building where phone tapping records have been conducted is the one located on Los Incas Avenue, where Caamaño has her headquarters now.
Parrilli sent 40 new agents to the bureau, who are still working there and working under the supervision of Josefina Kelly, a young woman who first served at the Justice Ministry and was said to be the link between the secret services and La Cámpora, the Kirchnerite youth organization.
Caamaño arrived with 25 employees at the Los Incas building, who need to be trained to carry out their task.
Though some former agents complained that they want to retire or that they want to be transfer to the AFI as soon as possible, Caamaño told the Herald 10 days ago that she believed they would have to put up with the former agents, at least during a transitional time.
The idea of the Attorney General is to split the group of the “historic” agents — as they call them — in order to prevent them from acting as a Trojan Horse.
Kidnappings
The former OJOTA office conducts phone tapping records upon request by magistrates. In most of the cases, those who listen to the records are members of the security forces. However, intelligence agents are the ones who analyze the records when it comes to cases of kidnappings.
During 2001 and 2004, there were repeated cases of extortive abductions and the SI took a leading role in the resolution of those cases. The involvement of the SI in the investigations into kidnappings was said to be a decision made by former spymaster Stiuso.
According to estimations, about 120 SI agents are still working in the building along with 40 others appointed by Parrilli and 25 employees of the Attorney General, who represent less than a 20 percent of the total staff.
In cases of kidnappings, prosecutors can directly request the DICOM — formerly known as OJOTA — to request the telecommunications companies to intervene telephones and to commence the wiretaps. The request has to be confirmed 24 hours later by a judge.
Prosecutors
Caamaño — who served as Nilda Garré’s number two at the Security Ministry — arrived at the influential courthouse located on Comodoro Py yesterday to meet her federal colleagues. Her visit was believed to be a move to close ranks with prosecutors who have been critical of Gils Carbó.
The head of the DICOM, for instance, met with Guillermo Marijuán, one of the prosecutors who has promoted complaints against Gils Carbó and is said not to be on speaking terms with his boss.
Next week, Caamaño will have to visit the offices of federal judges on the third and fourth floor of the Comodoro Py courthouse. The magistrates are the ones who have to greenlight the requests to conduct wiretaps made by prosecutors.
Archives
The Attorney General’s office and the AFI will have to decide what to do with the archives found at the building located on Los Incas Avenue.
“We don’t want those records,” a source close to Gils Carbó told the Herald yesterday.
The attorney general created a commission on Tuesday that will be in charge of analyzing the material and suggesting what to do. A committee made up of former judge and former Buenos Aires provincial Security minister León Arslanian, Intelligence Academy head Marcelo Sain, legal expert Alberto Binder, prosecutor Félix Crous have suggested Gils Carbó to take all the steps necessary to make the bureau more transparent and to leave behind its past tied to espionage. However, changes take time.
@LucianaBertoia
Source: Buenos Aires Herald
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