activity report_2012.pdf

tc.) Given the evolutions of the Arab Spring, the cooperation relations with the partners in the region focused mainly on preventing the risks and threats (originating from the MENA area) at Romania’s national security. IV.2.2. Multilateral cooperation Compared to the previous period, SRI continued to actively cooperate with NATO’s specialized bodies so as to:  ensure a permanent exchange of expertise on the security assessments of the NATO intelligence structures;  promote national interest in the partnership with the allies, given its participation in a considerable number of NATO activities. SRI continued to support Romania’s plans to strengthen NATO’s role in ensuring cyber security. At the same time, in 2012, the Service made an important contribution to:  preserving Romania’s role as a major provider of intelligence for NATO since SRI’s assessments were highly appreciated by its beneficiaries;  strengthening OSINT’s position within the Alliance. Besides, in 2012 SRI ensured the necessary support (including the financial one) that would allow our institution to fulfill its obligations in terms of building the new NATO headquarters in Brussels. At a national level, the Service played, in compliance with its attributes, an active role in the activities related to our partnership with NATO, such as Romania’s hosting elements of the American anti-missile defense system. At the EU level, SRI made a contribution to the Community’s initiatives and requests for intelligence of the European security structures by:  Promoting Romania’s interests at the EU level on issues regarding the European affairs. SRI took an active part in the inter-institutional consultations on EU issues that are related to its area of expertise and made a contribution to the national mandates the Service had been assigned with for the discussions of the working groups of the UE Council on security matters (TWP, CATS, COSI etc.), as well as of COREPER II and of 29 Justice and Home Affairs Council. Above all, our Service and the Ministry of Administration and Interior represent Romania within TWP. At the same time, SRI drafted reports related to the initiatives and projects of the EU Council, of the European Commission and of the EU state members. Besides, the Service provides answers to the requests of state institutions on various issues which are debated at the level of the Community. The most part of the Service’s statements were reflected in the Community’s final documents, in full compliance with our national interests;  Supporting the decision-making process by providing the EU representatives with an important number of strategic documents in order to strengthen the profile of the Service within the Community;  Strengthening the cooperation with EUROPOL in terms of prevention and countering terrorism. The cooperation with EUROPOL was improved by: - Providing answers to EUROPOL’s requests regarding the terrorist issue; - Making a contribution to the drafting of the Agency’s evaluative documents, especially those related to the terrorist threats to the European zone (TE- SAT); - Sending experts to represent SRI and to present periodic reports and coordinating national inter-institutional consultations on Romania’s contribution to the Agency’s projects on matters related to the prevention of and countering terrorism;  Supporting the Community’s activities on cyber security as a national cyber- intelligence authority. SRI played an important part in ensuring Romania’s position as a partner in the European project Clean IT and organized an international conference that reunited for the first time both public authorities acting in the field of preventing and countering cyber terrorism, and private representatives of the Romanian information society. Moreover, the Service took part in and made strategic contributions to the preliminary activities involving the Community’s efforts to draft a project known as the European Cyber Security Strategy. The member states of the EU Council made the decision to convey its notification on cyber security to our Service as well. On the other hand, given the national effort to help Romania intensify the absorption level of the European funds, SRI acted so as to:  collect funds for 3 projects by correlating its efforts with other national institutions;  enter into – as an associated partner or co-beneficiary – 9 cross-national projects that are collecting EU funds. As part of the multilateral cooperation meetings between similar services, SRI made a remarkable contribution to the Counter Terrorist Group (CTG), taking into account that, in 2012, the Service: 30   took an active part in CTG’s relevant initiatives and projects in order to improve its working knowledge of terrorism and adapt its action capacity to the new forms of terrorism;  organized its first CTG conference (concerning the exchange of best practices on the management of terrorist risks) and get positive reactions on the event. Given the final results, SRI was designated to organize the following sessions of the conference as well. Other multilateral cooperation events  As to the Middle European Conference (MEC), SRI continued to take an active part in the event by organizing the first session of a conference on cyber security, as well as by coordinating some chapters comprised in a MEC guide of best practices on the analysis activity.  In respect to the South East Europe Intelligence Conference (SEEIC), the Service cooperated with SIE in order to identify a number of measures meant to reform the Conference format, namely to align its projects with the present security challenges, as well as to the cooperation standards of other similar multilateral events. 31 CHAPTER V COORDINATION AND CONTROL OF SRI’S ACTIVITIES V.1. Strategic coordination of the activities by the National Supreme Council for Defense The National Supreme Council for Defense, the strategic coordinator of the national security activities, adopted in 2012 – and subsequently submitted to SRI – 20 decisions that were to be enforced following the direct consultation with the Service, according to its legal competences. Besides, SRI substantiated and supported the need to enforce some of these decisions in accordance with its own assessments about the development of various security areas of activity, mainly those that the Service deals with as a designated national authority. CSAT decisions which are related to SRI’s obligations referred, among others, to:  measures aimed to ensure a unitary process of the activity management at the level of SNPCT (The National System for Preventing and Countering Terrorism), as well as measures targeted at rendering more efficient the cooperation between similar institutions. CSAT decision was adopted following the Council’s analysis of SRI’s report on the activity that SNPCT had carried out back in 2011 with the support of the Antiterrorist Operational Coordination Center;  measures intended to strengthen the operational (investigative) capacity of the institutions that are part of SNPCT. The need to enforce such a norm originated in SRI’s expeditious report regarding the possible implications generated by the terrorist attack from Burgas, Bulgaria (July 18, 2012). Under these circumstances, CSAT decision was meant to ensure a more rapid reaction to the terrorist threat at a national level;  measures meant to support the implementation of IT services and systems at a national level;  accelerating the development and optimization process (initiated since 2010) of the Integrated Information System by merging their databases so as to facilitate the exchange of information between the authorities that are part of this system. The National Supreme Council for Defense also:  analyzed and approved (in the first quarter of 2012) the activity of SRI in 2011 which refers to the protection of classified information related to the Council’s competency areas;  assessed and passed the register and the maximum quantitative standards of the SRI reserves (in the II-nd semester of 2012);  It approved the cooperation between SRI and similar bodies and institutions abroad. As part of a coordinated effort made by the bodies in the National Security System to support the strategic decision making process, SRI submitted 16 reports to CSAT in 2012 (10 of which were planned in the Activity Report and 6 were deriving from the developments in the security environment and changes of the institutional structure). The above mentioned documents covered: 32   developments and trends in the organized crime tax evasion activities;  proposals aiming at the improvement of the methodology on counterterrorist intervention planning and action. Moreover SRI presented 18 reports following the requirements made by CSAT Secretariat on topics under SRI jurisdiction. In this line we hereby mention the report on the requirements related to the norms of implementation by CSAT of Law 149/2011 approving Government Emergency Ordinance no. 75/2010 amending The Competition Law no. 21/1996. Specific threats to the national security deriving from the local companies’ fusion, acquisition of assets or asset and liability overtake by Romanian and/or foreign entities were submitted to SRI for analysis. According to CSAT decisions to provide grounds for strategic interest studies, SRI also contributed to the drawing up of documents by third parties. Based on its legal liability, SRI worked on documents regarding:  Assessments of the Risks, threats and vulnerabilities to the national security, 2013 forecasts (a document put together by the Integrated Information Office within the National Intelligence Community and delivered to CSAT by the national security counselor of the President; this document was the basis of The 2013 National Plan of Priorities in Intelligence);  The (trimestral) assessment of the activities performed under the inter-ministerial working group (set up in 2010) on the prevention and countering of serious and generalized tax evasion. V.2. Democratic Control V.2.1. Parliamentary oversight In 1012, as part of the parliamentary oversight of SRI activity, 51 documents (notifications, reports, points of view) were presented to the Permanent Joint Oversight Commission of the Deputies Chamber and Senate, out of which 25 were replies to specific inquiries made by the Commission. To be mentioned as replies to specific inquiries (also presented to non-standing parliamentary commissions):  Activity reports of the central and territorial units under parliamentary oversight in the 1st semester of 2012;  The reply to an inquiry made by a MP on the legality of specific tapings;  Replies to several memos presented to the Chamber of Deputies Commission against Abuse and Corruption by members of the Union of Released from Service Military on the topic of pensions restructuring. The unsolicited information reports were on relevant security environment developments under the jurisdiction of the Service, as well as on organizational and structural changes of the institution so that the Commission would have a complete and transparent perspective on SRI. 33 We hereby mention as relevant the following reports:  Periodic information reports on SRI activities;  The information estimate on National Security Risks and Threats – 2012;  Information report on the priorities of the institutional reform of the Service. In 2012 the members of the Commission performed controls at the Service Units, direct consultations with the representatives of the Service meant to provide a specific control of the efficiency and legality of the activity in the local units under supervision. At the same time, the members of the Commission continued their consultations with SRI management to clarify particular developments in the national security area. Such is the presentation delivered by the Director of SRI of the 2011 SRI Activity Report. V.2.2. Legality Oversight  The entire national security practice performed by the SRI has been permanently under audit by the authorized bodies. Observing the national and the EU legislation and the legal provisions deriving from these laws, as well as protecting the rights and fundamental liberties stipulated in the national laws, in the international treaties undersigned by Romania has been under vetting in this process of constant auditing. The auditing and control process, backed by the specialized legal department of SRI, is based on working standards and complex internal audit procedures specific to the intelligence activity.  In its capacity as national authority in the field of IT&C interception, through the National Communications Interception Center (CNIC), SRI timely implemented the interception authorization documents. Entire activity in this area was performed under the provisions stipulated by Law 535/2004, Art. 20-22 on the prevention and countering of terrorism and by Art. 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Such activities were ensured for all the entities within the National Security System and for the Public Ministry. The internal procedure took into account the carrying out of the preventive conformity control of the authorization documents, i.e. checking if the legal requirements are met and the data is correct. CNIC implemented throughout 2012 a total of 36,085 authorization documents for the national security system beneficiaries (as compared to 35,678 authorization documents during the previous year, this was a 1.14% increase). A slightly positive dynamics characterized only the authorization of activities coordinated by the criminal prosecution bodies, while there was a continuous national effort for countering tax evasion and organized crime, which affect the income to the consolidated state budget. 34 The beneficiary entities shared the number of authorization documents as follows:  32,680 authorization documents for the other entities within the defense system for public order and national security;  3,405 for SRI as compared to 3,418 the previous year. The rate of warrants whose beneficiary is SRI is still low – only 9.43% of the total – and decreasing in comparison with the previous year (when it reached a total of 9.58%). In fact, the retrospective analysis of the recent years indicates a decreasing tendency of the rate of national security warrants within the total number of legal interception authorizations (from 2008 to 2010, this rate was relatively constant between 10 and 13%), unlike the ever increasing number of authorization documents for the communication interception requested by entities other than SRI. Regarding the data, information and material resulting from the implementation of the authorized activities for SRI, one should mention that they were used to support certain preventive measures, i.e. the notification of the competent criminal prosecution bodies. V.2.3. Financial control As in the previous years, the Service gave priority to the observance of the principles specific to economic and financial activities. Efforts were made to ensure the necessary budget for the optimal functioning of the Service units, i.e. budget appropriation was used according to its destination, and in a legal and efficient manner. Simultaneously, reports and standard national evaluations were drawn up in order to give a transparent, correct and applied presentation of the Service economic and financial activity. Regularly, the resulting documentation was sent, according to the specific procedures, to the competent authorities, mainly, the Ministry of Public Finance. In fact, the whole Service undergoes its own preventive financial control, together with an internal regulation mechanism, which envisages the analysis and the consolidation of the budget execution by each third-party credit administrator, on major and sector programs, and further on expense categories. Throughout 2012, the Romanian Court of Accounts carried out external public audits at the level of the main credit administrator, as well as the level of third-party credit administrators. On the occasion of the audit at the main credit administrator, the representatives of the Court also checked, randomly, the manner of establishing and granting allowances and salaries for the staff, and the investment expenses in the case of two central units and eleven territorial units, and there were no dysfunctions noticed. During the verifications carried out, the Romanian Court of Accounts attested the legality of the operations carried out in the administration and the use of the financial resources approved by the budget, as well as in the patrimony administration for the budgetary activities for 2011. 35 CHAPTER VI THE COOPERATION WITH THE CIVIL SOCIETY VI.1. Relations with the civil society and the security education The efforts made in the previous years for publicly promoting a transparent and realist image of the role and objectives of the Service within the national security system were naturally continued in 2012, a