Military and Terrorism: The UCR Challenge

On August 2, the state executive submitted a bill proposing amendments to the Internal Security Act. Its goal is to involve the armed forces in the fight against drug trafficking under the umbrella of terrorism and to assign military tasks to urban police and social repression.

In words that still resonate today, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni insisted that “there were terrorists outside Congress,” referring to protesters who gathered in Congress Square to protest the approval of the Basic Law and the Finance Bill. .

The Internal Security Act currently provides for three situations in which the defence system can take action in internal security:

• Logistical support is provided through the Arsenal, Quartermaster, Sanitary, Veterinary, Construction and Transport Services, and Engineering and Communications Departments.
• Self-defense against attacks within military jurisdiction (e.g. the capture of the La Tabrada military camp in 1989).
• After a state of martial law is declared, combat troops are deployed “at the discretion of the President” when internal security systems are inadequate.

The government’s arguments. First, the project proposes “an intermediate alternative (…) to the armed forces. to act in the event of terrorist acts.” Institutions that offer an intermediate alternative already exist in Argentina – in the case of the gendarmerie and the prefectures – and around the world – in the image of the National Guard – also known as “militarized police forces.”

In the United States, a mirror to security and defense officials, terrorism is handled by the Department of Homeland Security and the Intelligence Services, as the country’s National Defense Law (Posse Comitatus Act of 1878) prohibits its armed forces from intervening in internal security due to events that took place during the Civil War (1861-1865)! Paradoxically, however, the Argentine government considers our laws anachronistic, as they date back to the late 20th century.

In addition to the security forces responsible for preventing, suppressing, assisting in the investigation and conducting criminal intelligence on complex crimes such as drug trafficking and terrorism, the country has 24 police forces. According to the Security Observatory of the Organization of American States, Argentina has 806 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest averages in the Americas.

On the other hand, there is a mistaken belief that Regulatory Decree 727/2006 distorts the “spirit” of the National Defense Law. This issue must be studied specifically by radical legislators who face the challenge of preserving Raúl Alfonsín’s legacy.

It is worth remembering the statements of legislators who briefed the UCR in 1988. For example, Senator Antonio Berhongaray (La Pampa) said that foreign aggression should be understood as “an attack by the armed forces of one State on the territory of another State”; the bombing of the territory of another State by its army, navy or air force, or the use of any weapon by one State against the territory of another State.

For his part, the national deputy in Buenos Aires, Santiago Zubiri, asks himself: “How do we fight (…) terrorism in other dimensions? (…) With specially trained security forces, this possibility must be considered when we discuss the future internal security law (…). But it will always be about the security forces: the military police, the gendarmerie, the National Guard (…) and never about the armed forces in action.”

There is no doubt that terrorism is a worrying threat in different parts of the world. However, the United States itself provides us with a different view from that of its own government. The Worldwide Threat Assessment 2023 issued by the intelligence community insists that there is no terrorist threat in South America, while the Pentagon’s 2018 National Defense Strategy claims that “the primary concern of national security is strategic competition between nations, not terrorism.” In line with this, the document ranks terrorism fifth and, as before 9/11, lists nation-states such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as the main threats.

This emphasis on inter-state challenges contrasts with the position of the Argentine government, which ignores the UK’s systematic impact on our sovereignty.

Furthermore, it must be noted that the armed forces are not ready to carry out security tasks. In addition to providing the ability to block the sea and air and space space, their training aims to ensure that the army is lethal in the use of force, rather than progressive and differentiated. Therefore, according to the old de-professionalization argument, the State Executive has expanded the provisions of Article 27 of the current law in this project so that when “an incident occurs that is intended to intimidate the population and gives rise to a criminal investigation within the framework, the armed forces can carry out, in accordance with Article 41 quinquies of Law No. 11,179 of the Criminal Code: “a) Patrols; b) Control of persons and vehicles; c) Control of the operation of fixed or mobile posts; d) Control and surveillance of real estate facilities, and e) Arrests on the spot. “

This modification is worrying because the project does not define the meaning of terrorism. The remarks of spokesman Adoni show in all aspects the complexity of what he meant. In this framework, the government surprisingly explains that the armed forces perform urban police tasks to fight terrorism or drug trafficking, instead of emphasizing the professional national intelligence system and the efficient police and security forces in the field of justice.

The comparative experience of Colombia and Mexico is worth studying. In the first country, former President Juan Manuel Santos self-critically admitted the “failure of the war on drugs” after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. In Mexico, the same strategy has led to a homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants that is beyond any scale (200 journalists murdered, 100,000 missing). Not to mention the alarming corruption of the armed forces with cartels like Los Zetas led by former uniformed men. For this reason, the current President López Obrador created an intermediate force, the National Guard, to repeat the mistakes of the 90s.

It is also worrying that the government insists in the terms of the project that the military will not be subject to the provisions of Article 34 of the Criminal Code. It should be remembered that Article 184 of the Criminal Procedure Code only grants police powers to the police and security forces. Thus, if the official project succeeds, the actions taken by the military will not only be legally invalid, but will also be subject to ordinary criminal prosecution according to the law.

Democratic retreat. The proposal aims to abolish the “fundamental consensus” of Argentine democracy established through the National Defense Law (Alfonsin, 1988), the Internal Security Law (Menem, 1992) and the National Intelligence Law (De la Rua, 2001) and their amendments. 2015, CFK). This repeal begins with DNU Bill 614/2024, which amended the Intelligence Law without a proper parliamentary debate.

These moves run counter to everything we have learned from the experience of the deprofessionalization of policing and the armed forces during the 20th century (1930-1983) of political authoritarianism. But they also add new fissures that undermine the consensus built into our democracy.

The deputies and senators have an opportunity to preserve one of the few national policies of the past four decades. Raúl Alfonsín deserves his party to put him in a different position than Javier Milei put him as a boxing model in sports training. The rejection of the draft reform of the Internal Security Act is a good opportunity.

*PhD in Social Sciences (UBA). Master in International Studies (UTDT). **PhD in Political Science. Expert in Defense and National Security.