Host: The SIE is transparent for the first time. Has the Service you are at the helm of reformed or is this the first step on the reforming path?

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: Let me first thank you for the fact that you are mentioning for your listeners that the Foreign Intelligence Service is celebrating today its 19th post-December 1989 anniversary. The reform is not for granted and neither does it represent institutional gymnastics performed for the sake of the already complicated public perception. What I’m saying is that this process was not merely one for the sake of reform, but it was prompted both institutionally and morally by the need for streamlining and compatibility. It started in 2000, 2001, 2002. Structures have been changed, generations have been replaced by new ones, strategic planning concepts have been revisited, activities have been re-targeted, legitimate rather than imposed leaders have emerged, I mean legitimized by their professionalism, expertise, even reputation, acknowledged by the system. It is very important that career became measurable and as this process unfolded, the political interference in the affairs of the Service was ever weaker, which now makes the Foreign Intelligence Service completely different from what used to be in the early ‘90s. Testimony to this is the extremely great number of active partnerships that the Service has with similar institutions throughout the world, let alone NATO and the EU areas, the reputation it has acquired due to its professionalism. Let me tell you that in this kind of activity professionalism is not measured in terms of quantity or the number of employees, but in terms of their quality. It is also measured by the fact that, in almost all the operations the SIE has run, success was granted by the type of its involvement.

Host: Mr. Director, in my capacity as journalist and on behalf of a press institution, we cannot verify this information specifically because of this Service’s slight opacity to the public.

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: Anyway I am confident that both you as a journalist and any of our listeners can understand how sensitive communication actually is between such an institution and the public. However, this does not mean that things cannot be said; they can be even detailed when necessary.

Host: As what is seen abroad is in a way an attack – let’s put it simply – against Romania’s image, after all, what can the SIE do for the Romanians to feel dignified wherever they may go?

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: What I can tell you – and this time not only in my capacity as the SIE Director but also as a citizen of this country, just like you – is that our image abroad is not built on the existing perceptions of the host society, but it is extensively based on what we do ourselves, on the way we present ourselves, on the way in which we manage to gain their trust, to show that we are moral and that we comply with the laws. The Foreign Intelligence Service does not serve a pedagogical purpose; nevertheless, as the thin outer layer of the Romanian state, it will obviously collect and analyze any piece of intelligence that may jeopardize our national interest by its content, extension or effect.

Host: What public events do you plan in order to celebrate the SIE’s anniversary?

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: I believe that our dialogue is concrete enough to be both public and manifest. At the same time, the Foreign Intelligence Service is happy to show Romania the image of a properly working institution in a constitutional democracy, in a democracy where law prevails, and to be one of the quality guaranteed elements of the national defense system.

Reporter: They are compared to James Bond but their life has nothing to do with Agent 007. The missions of the agents of the Foreign Intelligence Service unfold beyond the TV screens, in almost complete secrecy. We learn more about the backstage of this job from the director of the Romanian espionage, Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu.

They are directly involved in negotiations to save the Romanian citizens, as it happened in the conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza. They are the ones who inform the policy-makers on any geopolitical changes in order to substantiate an official answer Romania is called to give.

And when it comes to complex operations, such as trafficking in drugs, arms or radioactive materials, they need to collect intelligence as quickly as possible and warn the decision-makers in the country.

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: We are not talking only muscles here, but also brains. A spy’s activity is not necessarily James Bond-like. The virtue of a true spy is anonymity, not jumping over blazing cars. Being a spy is something completely different. It does not only entail being a person with broad general knowledge, but also having flair.

Reporter: However, very few manage to get through the SIE’s sieve, where a multifaceted life with various identities lies ahead of them.

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: Out of 1,000 people who knock on the Service’s door, 8 manage to go into training and out of these, even fewer join the Service as members of this club.

Reporter: A club where only full loyalty is accepted, because all the missions relate to Romania’s national security. Total anonymity in which many times you can’t even reveal your success and the missions remain secret.

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: This Service has its heroes, because there are people who collect intelligence – that is, subsequently, turned to good account by someone above them – who collect intelligence at gun’s point. Some lose their lives for it, others are injured for life and suffer for the rest of their lives for the way in which their mission ended.

Reporter: Even so, spies need to find an inner balance which few people manage to have.

With very few exceptions, they keep the secrets of their jobs and missions for ever.