Mission

Its mission is recruitment and instruction of Secretariat of Intelligence's personnel, with a specialized technical and humanistic formation, the analysis and study of the national intelligence doctrine and providing of online courses and long-distance teaching for agents who belong to the Secretariat and other Argentine intelligence or security organization.

ENI graduates receive a title and diploma certified by the National University of La Plata, Buenos Aires.

Facilities

The school's main building, a big belle époque academic-style mansion, is located on Calle Libertad 1235 in Buenos Aires. Estimated to be worth about US$724,178, it was built in 1922 and a parking lot was added in 1970. It has small rooms and wooden floors, a street surface of 2,515 m2 and an internal surface of 3,775 m2.

The ENI mansion is protected by a 5-tonne steel gate and a constant surveillance through a closed circuit television (CCTV) system that records all activity around the building. The School also has a library of 7,000 volumes, and through its webpage it offers online courses to all regions and provinces of Argentina.

Director

Silvia Beatriz Cucovaz de Arroche is the current director; having a geographical sciences degree, and is considered a highly experienced and valuable woman with a long history in the Secretaría de Inteligencia. Cucovaz was also a professor at the Faculty of History and the Geographical Sciences School of the University of Salvador, at the Faculty of Business of the University of Buenos Aires, and at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Mar de la Plata.

Cucovaz de Arroche's previous jobs in Secretaría de Inteligencia included being the intelligence delegate in the Argentine Embassy in Germany (Bonn), the director of foreign intelligence, the chief of strategic affairs, the advisor of the secretary of intelligence, and an ENI professor.

Cucovaz de Arroche has participated in many conferences of international organizations, most notoriously serving as chairman of arms and explosives experts at the United Nations disarmament area. In Argentina, she is also counselor of the Council of International Relations and member of its international security committee.

Cucovaz wrote many dossiers and books such as "El rol de los servicios de Icia en el campo de la contraproliferación" and "Croatia as a stabilizing factor for peace in Europe; proceedings from an International Symposium".

Seal

The ENI seal (Escudo) is a Spanish-style coat of arms, composed of a chess board, symbol of strategy; a triangle, representing straightness; and a fox, which signifies the force of intelligence. The white colour represents the virtues of obedience and firmness; the black represents honesty; and the green symbolizes an oath to service. The ENI motto appears in Latin words: "De Omni Re Scibili", which means "From every knowable thing".

Staff and materials

During the 1960s, teachers in the ENI were mainly retired military officials who specialized in the intelligence service, or exceptionally, in the infantry branch. The materials taught were completely written in Argentina, usually by the military.

Recruitment and training

Citizens recruited for SIDE (see SIDE's recruitment procedures), are expected to go through the ENI's screening and training program before becoming a part of the organization.

During the 1960s, basic courses included specific material that no agents hoping to pass could fail. Teachers taught normal subjects on the matter of espionage, such as abilities opening any kind of lock they could encounter using very basic tools. The basic curriculum included photography, distant following of subjects, infiltration, and even lip reading.

Establishing a well known method used by the CIA and other intelligence agencies, agents who passed all their exams could move on to the final steps of their training, which included shooting practice, weapons handling, and personal defense.

Students in the ENI, are not only taught basic theories, skills and techniques about intelligence and SIDE, but also the development of "instinct." During "class", there are several "immediate reaction" tests. For example, these tests can be hidden in a simple routine, such as making students do a simple task, like working with a document. When the students least expects it, a simulation of a small fire break out begins, which helps evaluate students' response capabilities under spontaneous and stressful situations.

Students must be fully aware and attentive to their teachers and the material being taught. Being attentive means remembering and analyzing any detail that could alter the routine of the classroom, such as a phone call received by a professor on their cellphone, or if the professor suddenly coughs.

After the bell rings, without notice, students are usually interrogated about the previous circumstances, therefore evaluating a number of "correct answers". That is, seeing how attentive to details they were, and their capabilities to remember, analyze, and discern many kinds of information, acts, things said, etc.

The second level of teaching is not reachable without first passing a whole set of psychological and physical examinations. Afterwards, the program becomes more complex, meaning that the assignments become more technical, with subjects like Electronic Intelligence, where students are submerged into the art of phone tapping and the other uses of electronics in the intelligence world.

If a student gets good grades, they can become a part of SIDE.

Magazine

SIDE publishes every three months a magazine called "La Revista de la Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia" ("The Magazine of the National Intelligence School") about the studies and works of Argentines and foreigners on the subject of intelligence.