THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

PRESS RELEASE
 

At the invitation of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, a delegation of the Foreign Intelligence Service, led by Mr. Gheorghe Fulga, PhD, Director of the SIE, paid a visit to Washington on May 18-22 of this year, with a view to signing the cooperation Agreement between the two institutions, regarding the access of the museum’s experts – in keeping with the Romanian legislation – to the documents in the SIE archives referring to the World War II period.

The visit also included an important political component, as the Romanian delegation had talks with Daniel Fried, special adviser to the US President for Europe and Eurasia, within the National Security Council, with Thomas Fingar, Principal Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of State on Intelligence and Research, as well as with outstanding representatives of the US Senate: Senator John Warner, Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee, Senator George Allen, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, within the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Chuck Hagel, member of the Foreign Relations Committee and of the Select Committee on Intelligence.

The political dialogue, carried out against the background of the new alliance relationship between Romania and the US, entailed by our country’s accession to the NATO, provided an opportunity for some comprehensive assessments and opinion exchanges regarding both the main threats to international security – terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, organized crime - and ways to enhance and render effective the Romanian-American cooperation in thwarting these threats. Moreover, relevant points were approached during the consultations, on Romania’s role and responsibilities, as a country that secures a part of the NATO eastern border, in fulfilling the goals of the Alliance, with a focus on the efforts to strengthen regional security and stability.

During the same period, meetings were held with representatives of the US Central Intelligence Agency leadership, in which the stage of the partnership relations was reviewed and ways of enhancing and further developing them were identified, with a view to effectively fighting asymmetric and cross-border threats.

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                    THE PRESS OFFICE
OF THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

Issued on May 24, 2004

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