Argentina's intelligence service launches public spy recruitment drive

Argentina's intelligence agency has launched an unprecedented public recruitment drive for new spies, using retro-style posters reminiscent of 1960s advertising featuring a young man wearing a laurel wreath and wrapped in the national flag, pointing at the viewer under the slogan: "We're looking for the best."

"We live in a changing and turbulent international context. The world is at war. Competition between major powers for energy, minerals, food, water and technology puts our country at the centre of the geopolitical chessboard," presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The public recruitment drive is open to Argentines with a secondary-school education and includes assessments and a training course at the intelligence academy, Ravier said.

The campaign is being promoted through street posters bearing a retro aesthetic and the slogan alongside the logo of the Secretaría de Inteligencia del Estado (State Intelligence Secretariat, SIDE).

Some feature a muscular young man draped in the Argentine flag pointing directly at passers-by, in a style reminiscent of the Uncle Sam figure used in US military recruitment posters in the early 20th century. Others depict a woman carrying out office work.

"Our position in the South Atlantic and our projection towards Antarctica give us strategic value. We have what the world needs and must have the capabilities to protect it," Ravier said, without specifying the number of vacancies or employment conditions.

The SIDE has also promoted the recruitment drive on social media, describing it as a policy aimed at "transparency and professionalisation" in the intelligence career, based on "merit, training and results".

The initiative comes amid a broader reduction in public-sector employment under President Javier Milei.

Since taking office in December 2023, his administration has cut around 81,000 jobs across the national public administration, representing approximately 16 percent of the state workforce.

The SIDE received a second budget increase in September last year, bringing its allocation to around 176 billion pesos (approximately US$112 million), more than 10 times its 2023 budget.