Argentina sends sovereignty bill with cyber defense

Update September 24, 2026: DNU 941/2025 takes effect when it is published in the Official Gazette. This note has been updated to reflect that point and to preserve the original reporting on the sovereignty bill with cyber defense and critical infrastructure.

Javier Milei's government sent Congress the draft National Sovereignty Defense Law, an executive initiative that creates a National Security System led by a National Security Council. The text adds cyber defense, critical infrastructure protection, and new powers to coordinate diplomatic, economic, defense, legal, intelligence, and sovereignty areas.

What does the bill create?

The bill formally establishes a National Security System and gives the National Security Council authority over the direction, coordination, and oversight of security policy, according to official statement 164 from the Argentine government and reporting by La Nación. The council would be chaired by the president and made up on a permanent basis of the chief of staff, the foreign affairs, defense, and economy ministers, the head of SIDE, and the Legal and Technical Secretariat.

The proposal also broadens the definition of national defense and external threats to include non-kinetic phenomena, such as certain cyberattacks, sabotage, and attacks on strategic infrastructure, according to Mejor Informado. Infobae says the bill redefines national defense and expressly adds a national critical infrastructure protection system within that framework.

How does critical infrastructure fit in?

Critical infrastructure is a separate pillar of the bill, not just a passing mention. TN says the text is organized into separate titles for economic sanctions, security, critical infrastructure, and aerospace and maritime protection, while the same outlet says the council must draft a National Strategy and a National Plan for Critical Infrastructure Security.

Ámbito Financiero says the council would also be able to identify infrastructure of national interest and set coordinated measures to protect it. Filo News adds that the specific protection strategy is conceived as state policy for essential public and private networks, systems, and facilities.

ElDiarioAR says the bill amends the National Defense Law to explicitly allow the Armed Forces to act against non-state threats and to protect critical infrastructure identified by the National Security Council. Health care, energy, the financial system, and essential service networks appear there as strategic domestic assets.

What other powers does the council gain?

The National Security Council concentrates powers that go beyond critical infrastructure. The materials reviewed describe it as the body that links diplomatic, economic, cyber, defense, legal, intelligence, and critical infrastructure protection functions, according to Ámbito, La Nación, Cholila Online, and the government statement.

Infobae says the council's permanent membership includes the president, the chief of staff, the foreign affairs, defense, and economy ministers, SIDE, and the Legal and Technical Secretariat. TN adds that the council will also be responsible for coordinating binational or multinational infrastructure through ties with international bodies or foreign states.

Diario Panorama and Cadena 3 identified the creation of the council, the critical infrastructure regime, and the aerospace and maritime protection frameworks as central parts of the package the government prepared for Malvinas. La Voz del Interior added that the specific goals include defending strategic interests in Malvinas, the South Atlantic, and Antarctica.

What is its parliamentary status?

The initiative still has to go through the ordinary congressional process and, at the time it was presented, was at the stage of entering Congress and awaiting legislative debate, with no sanction or implementation deadlines defined in the reports reviewed, according to Mejor Informado. TN had reported a day earlier that the government had finished drafting the bill and planned to send it to Congress.

Infobae also said the text includes penalties of up to 20 years in prison for certain activities tied to the illegal exploitation of natural resources, and Análisis Digital said that, in addition to creating the National Security System and Council, the initiative includes a shoot-down regime and regulates the use of force against vessels. Urgente24 described it as a disguised political reform, with a critical reading of the concentration of powers in the new framework.

When does DNU 941/2025 take effect?

DNU 941/2025 takes effect as of its publication in the Official Gazette, according to the official notice from the Republic of Argentina. That change adds a later legal reference after the bill was sent to Congress and is now part of the current status of the file.