Argentina to Dissolve Intel Agency

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner announced plans Monday to dissolve the nation’s intelligence service, in the wake of a prosecutor who was found dead at his apartment just hours before he was to testify against her. In a broadcast message, Kirchner said she was drafting a law to disband the Intelligence Secretariat and create a “Federal Intelligence Agency,” in which she will appoint the leader who must then seek Senate approval. Kirchner said she will send her intelligence system overhaul bill to Congress before her trip to China next week as well as schedule a special congressional session to discuss the measure. Kirchner has come under fire after 51-year-old Alberto Nisman, a special prosecutor, was found in his Buenos Aires home with a gunshot to the head on Jan. 18. Nisman’s body was found the night before he was scheduled to go before a congressional hearing and accuse Kirchner of obstructing his investigation into the 1994 bombing at a Jewish charity federation office. Kirchner has denied the claims and points to Nisman’s death as a plot to discredit her.