THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

PRESS RELEASE

Ref.: Visit by Mr. Adrian Năstase, Prime Minister of Romania, to the Headquarters of the Foreign Intelligence Service

On June 2, 2003, the Romanian Prime Minister, Mr. Adrian Năstase, attended the SIE Board of Directors meeting, and he conferred with the leading active of the organization at the SIE headquarters.

The event has occasioned a deep-going analysis on the way in which the Service has been carrying out the tasks devolving upon it with a view to providing national security in the field of foreign intelligence, in keeping with the National Security Strategy of Romania and the Decisions Made by the Country’s Defence Supreme Council.

The Director of the SIE, Mr. Gheorghe Fulga, has highlighted that, over the past year, by extending and diversifying its intelligence sources, by re-considering its analysis capabilities, and by successfully integrating the management of the information sources, the Service has increased its capability in working out predictive assessments on the developments in the international sphere and the vectors impacting Romania, thus strengthening its role of early warning direction-provider nationwide.

The prime minister has been briefed on the guiding lines of the organisational and functional reform, which seeks to make SIE fully compatible with the similar structures in the allied countries, as well as the future projects aimed at streamlining technology and information.

An analysis has been made on the feasibility of the investment project regarding the “Informatics and Communication Centre”, which is meant to provide SIE with the necessary logistic support for its adjustment to the technological standards shared by NATO member countries in the field of speedy analysis, storage and dissemination of data pertaining to the security threats and risks facing Romania abroad.

Mr. Gheorghe Fulga has presented an outline of the needs and development resources, capable of affording SIE to reach its strategic goal aimed at turning it into a modern, highly performing, efficient, and flexible Service, well-aligned with the exigencies required by Romania’s future status of a NATO and EU member country, capable of meeting the social demand effectively and highly qualified.  

Mention has been made that the accomplishment by SIE of the tasks devolving upon it for the period 2002-2005 requires the resources to be appropriately earmarked and used with maximum efficiency.

The prime minister has spoken highly of the activity carried out by the SIE, and he has pointed out, among others, its professionalism evinced under sometimes sensitive circumstances of utter importance for the national security. Also, he has encouraged the organization in its endeavours towards structural and technological modernisation, while committing the Executive’s full support in advancing the normative acts and the necessary budgetary allocation for implementing the draft reform.

Mr. Adrian Năstase has singled out, among the SIE activity priorities for the time to come, the identification and countering of the foreign risks and threats to the national security, being more specific on terrorism, illegal trafficking in persons, and cross-border organized crime. Moreover, he has appealed for the SIE to summon up all its energy in support of the entire nation’s strivings for NATO and EU integration, and he has expressed his belief that the SIE staff will work in full responsibility for attaining such goals.

                    THE PRESS OFFICE
OF THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

Issued on June 2, 2003

On June 2, 2003, the Romanian Prime Minister, Mr.Adrian Nastase attended the SIE Board of Directors meeting, and he conferred with the leading active of the organization at the SIE Headquarters.

After the conclusion of the talks, a meeting was held with representatives of mass-media, on the occasion of which the Director of SIE and the Chief of the Executive made statements to the press.

STATEMENT BY DIRECTOR OF SIE,

MR. GHEORGHE FULGA

It was an honour for us to have Mr. Adrian Nastase, Prime Minister of the Romanian Government, as our guest at the meeting of the Foreign Intelligence Service Board of Directors. Together with him, and benefiting from his active participation, we have tackled plenty of issues pertaining to the SIE activity. The agenda of our talks was, indeed, heavy. I would like to refer now to three of the questions that we have raised in our discussions.

The first round of topics have been related to the way in which we carried out our activity over the first five months of the year 2003. You know that there was a tense international situation throughout that interval.

We performed our activities in keeping with the National Security Strategy, with the Decisions by the CSAT, and we have articulated it to the Prime Minister as well. His considerations on our activity will be, certainly, shared with you by the Prime Minister himself.

The second round of topics referred to the internal reform of the SIE. I would call it an “internal reform” for the simple reason that it only covers one segment of the institutional reform within the structures belonging to the public safety and national security system, and it is actually part and parcel of the reforming process that is underway throughout the country with a view to joining the European Union and getting integrated into the NATO.

We have now reached a stage, which we deem it appropriate for an appraisal of the way in which the intelligence services are structured out within the Euro-Atlantic realm. Based on a comparative analysis, we have drawn the conclusion that a series of law amendments are needed for us to further on the reform within the Foreign Intelligence Service. To that end, we have put forward our suggestions to the Prime Minister, in order that the   relevant institutions-the Government, Parliament, CSAT-may make the best decisions, proceeding from the fact that we are not entrusted with the power of initiating laws.

The third round of items concerned the ways and means to improve and make better use of the activities carried out by the SIE. In this regard, in order to enhance the SIE compatibility with the counterpart services in the Euro-Atlantic realm, we have resumed a project existing in the year 2000, which we have developed and now, assisted by the Government which has granted us a credit, we are due to build up, soon, the Informatics and Communication Center. It is a center capable of processing, rapidly and in true time, all the information in our possession, and it also serves as a communication center, given that it makes the best use of the liaison relationships existing between our service and the other organizations within the Romanian national security system, between ourselves and the services in the Euro-Atlantic realm, between us, as the Head Office, and the areas where we are operational to the national interest of Romania.

STATEMENT BY THE ROMANIAN PRIME MINISTER,

MR. ADRIAN NĂSTASE

We have had highly useful talks. I have shared views with the leadership of the Foreign Intelligence Service on several layers, on several topics.

We have surveyed topical international issues and the way in which the SIE contributes to making clear some domestic assessments and some decisions that we make. I have particularly appreciated the role played by the SIE in three extremely important fields: elimination of visas, integration into NATO, and accession to the European Union.

As a matter of facts, it is today that two new negotiating chapters have been concluded in Brussels, so that we may be hopeful that our activity schedule will be fulfilled, which can allow us to end negotiations with the European Union next year. However, I would like to highlight, here again, the role that the SIE has played and will continue to play, as regards its accurate assessments and response capability, in true time, to some cases when there is either some attempted information manipulation or, unfortunately, because of a lack of knowledge, some distorted information might emerge and impact negatively on the decisions pertaining to Romania.

Consequently, from this activity viewpoint, I can testify – since the Government and the Prime Minister are outstanding beneficiaries of the SIE, of the intelligence and assessments produced by the SIE – that one of the best moments that afforded the Service to make its contribution to release such assessments was during the military crisis in Iraq and the ensued military operations.

We were actually provided, during that interval, with assessments twice a day, which, in concert with other information coming from different sources or from the other services, afforded us to take the right action. The assessments that we have made concerning the Iraqi situation, the political intricacies, the existing disputes, the Euro-Atlantic ones included, have entailed the need for some attitudes by the Romanian authorities that now, when marking back, we can regard as accurate.

Also, I would like to say that the SIE is now facing an important phase after our integration into NATO, which is nearly accomplished. It is quite natural that an institutional reform is highly needed, in keeping with the reform which is now actually underway within all the organizations in Romania. It is particularly over here that a need arises for re-shapement, that a need arises for debating on the formula used by most of the countries, the formula of a de-militarised Intelligence Service, sharing a civil structure which, on the other hand, should not provide a feeling that the SIE will lose its status of an elite structure, its outstanding social status that it enjoys among the state institutions.

Moreover, there should be no fears that de-militarisation would somehow bring about lower salaries for the employees, or lower incomes as against the ones they get now. Such questions will have to be considered with due care, given that we have envisaged, within the CSAT, the Government, and Parliament, to back up the development of this Service. We would not like to inflict burdensomeness on its functioning and efficiency.

However, it is a question that we need to approach very carefully as regards the bill on organizational structure, the draft statute, the bill on salaries, the bill on pensioning, within Parliament, when debates are to be held on such issues.

At last, I would like to comment on the investments that have now been opened at the SIE level. First, it is the Informatics and Communication Centre, which testifies that the SIE has come to understand, perhaps much sooner than others, that the battle now is being engaged for supremacy in informatics. Information is necessary, and that is not quite a new question. The question is how to store select, and use rather than search the information. It can no longer be done by using a pen, by filling up cards to be inserted onto the shelves of the libraries. We need a different approach, and unless we are prepared for doing it, we risk losing the battle for concepts, the battle for political initiative, we risk failing to identify the main trends at international level, failing to respond to intoxication on the Internet or along the information flow.

That is the reason why the Government will support such efforts; it is doing it even now, and it will be doing it further on. We need smartness in order to understand that in the intelligence field, within the area where intelligence information is searched for, the battle will be rather fought for an esoteric realm, a realm which undoubtedly is less specific of the ones who used to be provided with invisible ink and who would try and send their information by the Orient Express.

That is the message that I have also conveyed to my colleagues within the SIE. I have congratulated Director Fulga for the activity performed by the organization he heads, on behalf of the Government. We highly appreciate the efforts that are being made at the SIE Headquarters, with a view to modernization and to assisting in making the right decisions in agreement with the national interest. I have assured him of the commitment by the Government, alongside the CSAT and Parliament, to try and find at any moment the most appropriate solutions. Thank you!                       

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