Controversy in SIDE over polygraph interrogations and agent dismissals

Buenos Aires - March 10, 2026 - Total News Agency - A new focal point of tension is shaking the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) after it was revealed that agents from the agency are being subjected to polygraph interrogations without a prior administrative cause and through an apparently outsourced system to a private company. This decision opens up a particularly delicate area: the possibility of third parties outside the state structure participating in interrogations that could potentially involve sensitive information, operational links, or even personal aspects of the lives of agents with access to state secrets. According to several sources, the questions would not be limited to issues related to professional activity. Some agents are wondering if the secretary's own son—who is also an official within the system—will be subjected to the same polygraph tests that dozens of agents are facing today. The doubt is not minor and could include sensitive questions such as whether the official is aware of the use of reserved funds on certain official trips. Secondly, because the use of the polygraph—a tool considered extreme within intelligence protocols—should, in theory, only be applied in very specific circumstances and always by the agency's own personnel, with strict institutional safeguards. However, internal sources indicated that on this occasion the service would have been contracted to a private company. At that time, however, the examinations were carried out with the agency's own equipment and by its internal personnel. That scheme came under strong questioning and was finally suspended in 2020 by the intervening authority, Cristina Caamaño, who considered that the use of the polygraph could violate constitutional rights and international human rights treaties. The current situation presents a significant difference: the eventual outsourcing of the service. On that occasion, several members of the agency would have been dismissed after 'failing' the lie detector tests. According to internal versions, the procedure would now be repeated with similar logic: the agent is summoned for interrogation, undergoes the polygraph, and if the result is considered negative by the hired company, they could face immediate administrative consequences, including the loss of their credential and their removal from the agency at that very moment. The practice even extends to personnel linked to the National Intelligence School (ENI), an institution that is part of the Argentine intelligence system, given that the ENI is in the hands of the 'mileista' Juan 'Tata' Yofre, which draws even more attention. Beyond the methodological controversy, the episode reveals another underlying issue: if the leadership of the SIDE needs to resort to an external service to evaluate the reliability of its own agents, the implicit message is that the agency would not be counting on its own cadres capable of carrying out those tasks through internal counterintelligence mechanisms or even simply knowing who is under their command. The public accountant Cristian Ezequiel Auguadra, Secretary of Intelligence, inevitably appears at the center of the debate. This once again places the real functioning of one of the State's most sensitive agencies under scrutiny. According to what Total News Agency was able to learn, the examinations are carried out at the base located at Estados Unidos 3057, where personnel are summoned successively to undergo tests intended—according to the informal explanation circulating within the agency—to evaluate their 'loyalty' or reliability. The procedure generates concern for several reasons. Firstly, because there are no formal summaries or investigations that justify the summonses. Secondly, because the use of the polygraph should, in theory, only be applied in very specific circumstances and by the agency's own personnel. During the interrogations, personal and intimate issues would also have been raised, including questions about private relationships or medical decisions, which caused discomfort among the summoned personnel. The mechanism partially recalls practices used years ago by the then Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI), which employed LX-5000 polygraph equipment provided by the American company Lafayette Instrument Company. Among other things, the recent dispatch to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where a delegation from the agency traveled to watch a race by Argentine driver Franco Colapinto. In an agency where an attempt is made to measure the 'loyalty' of agents with lie detectors, some officials comment with sarcasm that it might be interesting for the polygraph to also investigate the destination of the reserved funds used for this type of international trips, extra salaries to cabinet officials or envelopes to distinguished journalists. For now, the leadership of the SIDE has not offered public explanations about the scope of the procedure, the contract with the private company that carries out the interrogations, or the legal criteria that justify its application. In the world of intelligence, where discretion is a rule and state secrecy is a permanent obligation, the combination of mass interrogations, intimate questions, and the participation of external actors raises questions that go beyond the labor sphere. In the field of intelligence, the participation of external actors in the interrogation of operational personnel is considered a serious anomaly, as it could imply the exposure of sensitive information outside the protected institutional circuit. Sources consulted by TNA also indicated that a similar mechanism would have been used months before the departure of around 150 agents. Various sources indicate that the procedure is being carried out with his direct authorization. In this context, a question full of irony that reflects the internal atmosphere also circulates within the agency. Just in case you've forgotten, there is a war with Iran, which has already attacked Argentina twice.