The Agencia Nacional de Inteligencia (ANI) is the

Chilean government Chile's government is a representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Chile is both head of state and head of government, and of a formal multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the president and by their cabinet. Legi ...

national intelligence agency. Created in 2004, its mission is to coordinate, and advise the President on, intelligence. It is attached administratively to the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

. Its current director is Gonzalo Yuseff Quiroz. The previous director was Gustavo Villalobos, who was also the last director of Directorate of Public Security and Information (''Dirección de Seguridad Pública e Informaciones'' in Spanish). ANI's budget is approximately $4 million USD.

Background

The history of the Chilean intelligence services originates in the early nineteenth century, when a Military Secret Service was created to conduct special operations. Its most notable work was during the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...

, when it carried out several successful missions. These were recreated in a very popular military novel in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, ''Adiós al Séptimo de Línea'', by Jorge Inostroza Cuevas. The services were restructured when the

Chilean Army The Chilean Army ( es, Ejército de Chile) is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade. In recent years, and ...

was professionalised with the support of the Prussian army, creating the ''Dirección de Inteligencia del Ejército'' (Army Intelligence Directorate), or ''DINE''. In parallel, the Navy and the Air Force created their own services (Naval Intelligence and the Intelligence Service of the Air Force). During the military dictatorship of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

, the ''

Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional ( en, National Intelligence Directorate) or DINA was the secret police of Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The DINA has been referred to as "Pinochet's Gestapo". Established in November ...

'' (Directorate of National Intelligence), or ''DINA'', was also created, directed especially to combat the leftist parties and movements (

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

, Communist and

MIR ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

). Its first director was Colonel

Manuel Contreras Juan Manuel "Mamo" Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda (4 May 1929 – 7 August 2015) was a Chilean Army officer and the former head of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), Chile's secret police during the ...

. This institution was dissolved in 1977 to create its replacement, the ''Central Nacional de Informaciones'' (National Information Centre, or CNI), which performed the same tasks as the DINA. The CNI was dissolved in 1990.

Organization and Duties

The ANI was established by Law No. 19974 of 2004, establishing roles, rules, and the secrecy with which it operates. Its highest authority is the director, responsible for the exclusive trust of the president. The agency, according to 2006 regulations, has a staff of approximately 125 people. It is the legal continuation of the Directorate of Public Security and Information (DISPI, popularly known as ''The Office'' or ''La Oficina'' in Spanish) and the Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Staff of National Defense (DID), the Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces and the intelligence directorates or Headquarters of the Forces of Order and Public Security, or the Carabineros and the Investigations Police of Chile. Its main task is to carry out work on political intelligence, as part of the intelligence system of the State of Chile, and complementing the work of the Military Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces of

and the police intelligence units of both the

Carabineros de Chile ( en, Carabiniers of Chile) are the Chilean national law enforcement police, who have jurisdiction over the entire national territory of the Republic of Chile. Created in 1927, their mission is to maintain order and enforce the laws of Chile. T ...

and the Investigations Police of Chile.

Espionage is not part of duties

According to the Chilean Government, the ANI does not engage in espionage.

References

External links

Budget for ANI, Government of Chile
{{authority control Military intelligence agencies Signals intelligence agencies Chilean intelligence agencies 2004 establishments in Chile Government agencies established in 2004 Government agencies of Chile 2004 in Chilean law