THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

PRESS RELEASE

The President of Romania, Mr. Traian Basescu, met, December 29, 2004, the command of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE), at the headquarters of this institution. At the end of the discussions, a meeting with the mass-media representatives was organized, on which occasion the head of state made a press statement.

THE STATEMENT BY THE ROMANIAN PRESIDENT, Mr. TRAIAN BASESCU

Within my intention to provide the institutions of force of the Romanian state with the comfort that the changing of the President will not mean shattering the systems that have been built thus far, I have met the SIE command today.
            I can tell you that under no circumstances will the changing of the Romanian President mean transforming the SIE structures, as the Service is requested to evolve positively in its updating processes. I am satisfied with the SIE reforming level. At the same time, I have asked the Service to further on its modernizing processes, to adjust itself to the social, economic and political realities of Romania and, on top of it, the processes that are meant to make it capable of meeting the major exigencies of the Romanian foreign policy, that is: integration with the European Union, strengthening our stand within NATO, so that Romania may become a partner participating in decision-making, rather than a partner taking note of the decision; also, the special relation with the United States and Great Britain is another component of the work by the Foreign Intelligence Service, in compliance with the foreign policy priorities that we have set.
            I have also wanted to know the priorities of each and every Division, and we have discussed about the way in which we can establish the intelligence community so that Romania could benefit, in a short time, from her investments in intelligence information, by treating it in a unified manner, avoiding overlapping activities and, particularly, by producing top-quality syntheses thus affording appropriate decisions at the level of the President of Romania.
            I could tell you about the message I delivered the attendees at the end of the meeting, namely that I have particular confidence in the SIE. At the same time, I have conveyed my request that the SIE should become one of the pillars capable of making a contribution to the accurate decisions made for the national interest by the President of Romania.
            I am convinced that the relations that the SIE has established with its counterparts in the allied countries will need further development so that the SIE, in its turn, will become a first-class partner of the most important foreign intelligence agencies of the allied countries.
            I deeply wish, and I have expressed it, that the SIE will enhance the so-called synthesis capability, which means a special support by the President of Romania, by the Government, in order to continue equipping this Service so as to make it capable of meeting the exigencies that we expect from it.
            I have assured the SIE command that they will always find support with the President of Romania, who is also an extremely exigent person when it comes to the quality of the SIE work.
At the same time, I have conveyed to the SIE the positive appreciations that I received right after I moved to Cotroceni from various foreign bodies that have been cooperating with the SIE.
            However, I have requested that the performance by the Service should increase, while also providing assurances that there will be no destabilization by making major changes in the structure of the Service, which should bring about comfort to each and every worker of this Service, whom I particularly appreciate.
            Thank you very much. Good afternoon! Good-bye and season's greetings!

THE PRESS OFFICE

29 December 2004

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