The Milei government, through the Ministry of Defense headed by Luis Petri , appointed a specialist from the Yankee embassy in Buenos Aires as a cybersecurity advisor . This is Gustavo Víctor Santiago, who will assume tasks under Luis Petri's orders within the framework of the memorandum of understanding signed on March 25 between the governments of Joe Biden and Javier Milei .
As reported by the La Política Online (LPO) portal: “This agreement establishes a kind of support from Washington to the government, but the tasks of the new official will be carried out within the Argentine ministry, an unprecedented situation.”
At the end of June, the Yankee ambassador, Marc Stanley , sent a letter to Minister Petri stating that "the Government of the United States of America has proceeded to appoint the United States Cybersecurity Advisor to provide support to the Government of Argentina and collaborate in the development of tasks in the areas of cybersecurity" , specifying that "the Advisor will hold meetings with the jurisdictional units of the Ministry of Defense indicated below in order to assess the status of the situation that will allow defining the starting point for the proposal to be prepared: Joint Staff of the Armed Forces, Joint Cyberdefense Command and General Directorates of Communications, Information Technology and Cyberdefense of each of the Forces, Cyberdefense Institute of the Armed Forces".
In addition, Stanley in his letter indicates to Petri that: "The Advisor will present for consideration by the Argentine authorities a tentative schedule of meetings to be held, as well as a description of the topics to be addressed and the information that will be required in each case so that it can be prepared and made available at the time of each meeting." An unusual situation that describes the level of submission that the highest authority of the Ministry of Defense has in relation to the meddling ambassador.
Quickly, without letting too much time pass so that Stanley 's "boss of the stay" would not get angry, the Ministry of Defense led by Petri confirmed the appointment of the foreign agent. "I am writing to you to inform you of the appointment of Mr. Gustavo Víctor Santiago, as Cybersecurity Advisor of the United States who will support the Government of Argentina in the relevant areas. Once the collaboration tasks have begun, he will hold meetings with the jurisdictional units of the Ministry of Defense," indicates the official text signed by the Undersecretary of Cyberdefense of said ministry, Alfredo Raúl Parodi .
Engineer Alfredo Raúl Parodi holds the position of Undersecretary of Cyber Defense of the Secretariat of Strategy and Military Affairs of the Ministry of Defense . Although this is not the first time that Parodi holds this position, since he held it during the government of Mauricio Macri, back in 2018, at a time when the Ministry of Defense was in charge of Oscar Aguad .
Finally, in another document dated August 13, also signed by Parodi , it is detailed that "it was agreed to group the different organizations of the jurisdiction into two groups: (i) decentralized administration agencies (Armed Forces - FFAA) and (ii) decentralized agencies, Companies and Entities of the Public Sector of the Defense Jurisdiction."
In this document, Parodi indicates to those responsible for the decentralized organizations, Companies and Entities of the Public Sector of the Defense Jurisdiction that: "It is also interesting to know the organizational form, technological capabilities (IT and OT) and the staff assigned to the administration of said resources as well as the organizational structure and the plans adopted in the event of emergencies arising from cyber attacks and, where appropriate, the response to incidents in general, existence of specific play books, preparation and subsequent management of results reports, resilience of networks and infrastructure (IT and OT), exchange of information with other organizations and entities of the jurisdiction, etc. "
"The information collected from these jurisdictional agencies will be evaluated in order to analyze cyber risks and visualize the areas of opportunity and possible collaboration for their strengthening ," concludes the document from the Undersecretariat of Cyber Defense.
A source familiar with the matter told LPO that "you appointed an advisor from a foreign power as an advisor to your government to look after your security. The fox in the henhouse. I want to believe that it will be ad honorem" , adding that "you are opening your nets to another country. Obviously it is aggravated by the fact that the US is a member of NATO, but above all an ally of the United Kingdom."
"The Ministry has a Cyber Defense Command. We are giving the password to a safe to that country and its allies. It affects all security that passes through the networks, including radars of national design. Like the one in Tierra del Fuego," said the source consulted by LPO .
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