Serviciul de Informaţii Externe

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*Serviciul de Informaţii Externe*

Established:	February 8, 1990
Director:	Claudiu Săftoiu
Deputy Director:	Gen. Maj. Silviu Predoiu
Deputy Director:	Gen. Maj. Vasilică Sarcă
Budget:	Classified
Employees:	Classified

Serviciul de Informaţii Externe (Foreign Intelligence Service, SIE) is, under the Law no. 1/1998, "the state body specialized in foreign intelligence concerning the national security and the safeguarding of Romania and its interests".

The SIE carries on its activity in keeping with the Constitution of Romania, the laws of the country, the Decisions of the Country's Supreme Defense Council (CSAT), the military regulations.

The activity of the service has the character of a state secret. The sources of intelligence, the work ways and means cannot be disclosed to anyone, under whatever circumstances. The disclosure, in any way, of information and intelligence that make the object of the Foreign Intelligence Service's activity is forbidden and punishable as laid down in the law.

The Foreign Intelligence Service is authorized, under the law, to use specific methods, develop and own appropriate means for obtaining, checking, assessing, turning to account, storing and protecting intelligence information relating to the national security. It also has the right, in the conditions established under the law, to ask for and obtain from Romanian public authorities, economic agents, other legal persons, as well as from natural persons, intelligence, information, or documents needed in discharging its missions.

1 History
2 Cooperation with the other intelligence services in Romania
3 Communications with the civil society and the media
4 Overseeing the activity of the SIE
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

By Decree no. 111/February 8, 1990 issued by the Committee of the National Salvation Front, the Foreign Intelligence Centre (Centrul de Informaţii Externe (CIE)) was confirmed as an institution of the Romanian state mandated to carry out its activity in the field of foreign intelligence. Law no. 39/December 13, 1990 gave an identity to the Foreign Intelligence Service, as this regulatory act stipulates for the first time the name of the SIE, as a CSAT member.

The legal framework that regulates the activity of the SIE is based on Law no. 51/1991 on the national security, Law no. 415/2002 on the organization and functioning of the CSAT, Law no. 182/2002 on the protection of classified information and Law no. 1/January 6, 1998 on the organization and functioning of the Foreign Intelligence Service, completed by the Emergency Ordinance (OUG) no. 154 on November 21, 2001.

[edit] Cooperation with the other intelligence services in Romania

In a united Europe, in a global world, the SIE has built, ever since 1991, the cooperation with similar institutions in several countries, having beneficial effects on safeguarding Romanian security.

In keeping with the national regulations, the Romanian intelligence services frequently carry out joint actions aimed at preventing and countering events that might prejudice Romania's national security.

The cooperation between the SIE and the other structures with responsibilities in the field of national security is achieved through an operational intelligence exchange on subject matters of common interest, as well as in other aspects or working ways that contribute to ensuring the national security. This process is carried out according to certain cooperation protocols negotiated between the parties, which stipulate the obligation of immediately informing each other on the aspects regarding national security.

[edit] Communications with the civil society and the media

The Foreign Intelligence Service's relation with the civil society and the media is managed by a special structure in its organizational chart. This structure coordinates at the same time, in keeping with its responsibilities, the SIE's institutional relations with the Parliament, the Presidential Administration, the Government and the governmental organizations, as well as with the other structures in the central public administration.

In communicating with the civil society and the media, the SIE strikes a necessary balance between the citizen's right to be informed in conditions of transparency and the obligation to keep secret the information that, under the law, cannot be disclosed. This inevitably leads to a range of restrictions entailed by the specificity of the work that can otherwise be found to all the intelligence service in the democratic states.

[edit] Overseeing the activity of the SIE

The activity of the Foreign Intelligence Service is organized and coordinated by the Country's Supreme Defence Council (CSAT). The CSAT approves the organisational structure, the staff in peacetime or during mobilization, the functioning regulation, and the tasks of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Every year, or whenever the circumstances make it necessary, the SIE Director submits to the CSAT reports on the way the Service discharges the missions incumbent on it.

The control upon the activity of the SIE is exercised by the Parliament of Romania, via the special Parliamentary Commission, all the while observing confidentiality as to the means and sources of intelligence collection. The special commission is made up of three deputies and two senators elected from among the Commissions for Defence, Public Order and National Security of the two Chambers. Parliamentary oversight aims to check that the activity of the Foreign Intelligence Service is consonant with the Constitution of Romania and the policy of the Romanian state. While exercising the prerogatives incumbent on it, the Commission demands from the SIE, through its director, papers, information, and intelligence and may hear individuals connected to the issues being analysed. The Foreign Intelligence Service is bound to meet, in due time, the Commission's requests and allow the hearing of the persons called by it, with the prior approval by the SIE Director.

Financially, the activity of the Foreign Intelligence Service is audited by the Ministry of Public Finances, that exercises a delegated pre-emptive financial verification, and the Audit Office, through its follow-on control over the execution of the revenue and expenses budgets. The Public Ministry also gives clearances on and authorizes the legality of some activities conducted with a view to gathering intelligence.