activity report_2012.pdf

nswering the public need to know with respect to the concerns of the Service. The public diplomacy actions carried out during this period intended the improvement of the general public perception regarding the Service evolution, the capacity to manage the new security challenges, and encouraging the proactive attitude of the civil society in achieving the objectives set for this mission. In order to support communication with the civil environment, and to promote the security culture, special attention was paid to taking advantage of the opportunities offered by various public events that one organizes or that one takes part to. The promotion campaign within the high-school environment of the educational offer of SRI for 2012 had a significant impact (this included several pre-university and university programs), the seminars on “Anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism in the knowledge society”, and “The Romanian Intelligence Service in the knowledge society”, the activity “Career days” and the International Exhibition “Black Sea Defense and Aerospace 2012”. Following concerns for a diversification of communication channels with citizens and the civil society, in the public area and within the media, positive signals and reactions were constantly received with respect to the SRI efforts to consolidate the security culture and the policy of institutional reform. In fact, opinion polls state that SRI is among the most trusted public institutions in Romania. The connection to the new developments in the academic environment was a constant concern of the efforts to consolidate the security expertise, to maintain the quality and performance indicators of the research and development activity confirming the position that SRI holds as the main provider and promoter of the intelligence culture. The expertise development concerns resulted, among others, in the signing of a memorandum for academic and scientific cooperation between the National Intelligence Academy “Mihai Viteazul” – ANIMV and Mercyhurst University (SUA), and the representation of The National Institute for Intelligence Studies (within the Academy) in the international master program “The 27th International Training Course in Security Policy”, hosted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. The efforts to support the academic research activity and to organize and participate in specific national and international events (symposiums, academic work sessions, a.s.o.) had as purpose a more pragmatic connection to the research theme of the intelligence community, with significant benefits for promoting the Service activities. 36  The leadership of the Service coordinated the panel “Intelligence transformation in New Democracies” within the annual conference of International Studies Association in the USA, and the contributions of the Service representatives were appreciated. Also, exemplifying in this sense are the workshop cycle associated to the European project for the Reduction of Cognitive Biases in Intelligence Analysis – RECOBIA (where SRI is the end-user), and the 18th Session of Academic Works of ANIMV – “Intelligence in the Knowledge Society” (with a numerous participation from the partner services). A significant contribution to the promotion of the security culture was that of the editorial performance of specialized magazines such as “Intelligence” and “Revista Română de Studii de Intelligence” (“The Romanian Intelligence Studies Magazine”), that are appreciated both by the academic and university community, and by strategic policy makers. In fact, “Revista Română de Studii de Intelligence” was accepted to be indexed in the international scientific data bases: “Central and Eastern European Online Library” – CEEOL and “EBSCO Publishing”. VI.2. Relations with the public and mass media Rendering more efficient the activity of promoting institutional identity – with the purpose to increase the support granted by the Romanian population for carrying out the Service specific missions – was a major objective of SRI in 2012, and there was an obvious concern for the launching in the public area of a correct, coherent, and unitary message regarding the legal responsibilities of the Service, its place and role in the security architecture of Romania. To this purpose, a professional communication campaign was launched, including the following:  New visual identity elements were adopted (logo, motto, and institutional branding elements), which were promoted at public events;  A new Service website was created, as it is an important component of the communication with the citizens, and it is continuously updated with information regarding the activities carried out, the events organized, and the publication edited by the Service;  A commemorative monument was inaugurated to remember the antiterrorist fighters that lost their lives in the December 1989 Revolution;  For the first time an intelligence service had a stamp issued, dedicated to the antiterrorist fight. In 2012, there was an even more decreasing number of petitions addressed to SRI – 3,048 (51.38% less than in 2011), out of which, 46.22% were drawn up by legal persons, and the rest, by natural persons. 37 Special attention was paid to the requests addressed to SRI based on Law no.544/2001 regarding the free access to public information. 15 such requests were registered (their number decreased with 28.5% as compared to 2011). There was a significant decrease in the number of interviews – 1,986, approximately 58% less than in 2011. The main discussion points were:  The requirement for being hired by the Service or for participating in the courses organized by ANIMV;  Obtaining certificates and other rights;  Drawing up claims and notifications;  Requesting certain permits. At the Service mailbox ([email protected]), 1,615 requests were received (11% less than in 2011). 888 answers were produced (the rest of the messages contained various offers that did not require expressing a point of view). Although the decreasing number of claims/messages/requests addressed to SRI reveals – to a significant extent – the efficiency of the public communication in order to achieve better knowledge among the public opinion of the SRI place, role, and competence, there was still a great number of people who address the Service (both through claims, and during interviews) making requests that fall under the responsibility of other authorities or state institutions. VI.3. Handing in the former Securitate Archives According to the provisions of OUG no.24/2008, approved with modifications and additions through Law no.293/2008 regarding the access to one’s own file and the unveiling of the Securitate, in 2012, the Service continued to hand in to CNAS the following:  906 declassified files;  300 personnel files from the non-operational fund, belonging to military personnel retired before December 31st 1965, and who are deceased. Other 1,533 personnel files are ready to be handed in.  microfilm copies for 3 files (based on certain requests), and 1,530 microfilm rolls containing information for 87,760 files. Moreover, 2,786 microfilm rolls are also ready to be handed in; they contain information for 170,769 files and the specific activities have begun concerning 11,415 microfilm rolls. Notably, SRI succeeded in handing in to the Council, 99.99% of the total number of files (taken in custody in 1989) under the Law no.293/2008. At the same time, taking into account CNSAS requests:  360 responses have been given to official notifications, most of them based on Law 221/2009 regarding the political sentences and the administrative measures 38  associated to them, pronounced from March 6th 1945 to December 22nd 1989, with the subsequent changes and additions;  9,296 persons were vetted. 39 CHAPTER VII RESOURCE MANAGEMENT VII.1. Human resources management VII.1.1. Human resources parameters within the Service The implementation of major stage-by-stage objectives of the Strategic Perspective 2011-2015 “SRI in the informational era” resulted in an operational and optimal functioning of the systemic mechanisms for increased professional performance, for career support, and for motivation of excellence. To this purpose, the priorities for 2012 were the following:  Ensuring a coherent concept at the basis of the implementation process of the provisions of The Career Guide in SRI (that entered into force at the beginning of 2012), at the same time making the necessary changes;  implementing the integrated career management policies by: organizing competitions/exams for occupying – on criteria of competence and mobility – certain positions and, starting career guiding and counseling processes;  identifying and using uniformly certain instruments that have proved increased efficiency in the selection, testing and evaluation of human resources;  Implementing alternative mechanisms for professional motivation, which should allow a judicious management of the Service resources;  improving the internal communication process, meant to present and to turn to good value the new mechanisms of career management. The structural and organizational efforts were accompanied by the constant concern to ensure the optimum human resources necessary for the Service missions. To this purpose, according to the new strategic directions, efforts were made to identify and select certain candidates whose professional background meets the SRI needs, for the admission contests to the educational programs organized by the National Intelligence Academy “Mihai Viteazul” and by the Military Technical Academy or for direct enrollment (especially in the technical areas that imply specializations on particular fields or higher professionalism). At the same time, the professional training focused on the development and improvement of general, specific and cross-cut abilities, according to the needs on each field of activity, while their efficiency is directly reflected by the performance indices. From the point of view of the distribution of positions on fields of activity, the functions used in the organizing structures of the Service belong to the operational field – 71%-, and to the functional field – 29%. The general employment level at the end of 2012 throughout the Service was of 82%, and the personnel dynamics was negative. The average age level throughout the Service was 37 years and 9 months. 40 VII.1.2. Professional training The year 2012 was a stage of institutional validation of the university and post-university programs launched in 2011, for the initiation, specialization and improvement of the intelligence officers on different fields of activity - field intelligence officers and analyst intelligence officers. Given the general objective undertaken, to increase the training quality of the human resources, the Service focused mainly on:  Developing an integrated system of continuous personnel training, with the purpose to obtain, develop, and maintain the professional abilities on different activity fields within SRI;  upgrading and specializing the personnel involved in professional training activities, through participation in training programs offered by foreign counterparts or in experience exchanges with similar structures of partner services or of foreign academic entities;  stimulating the research activity through: implementing two research fields – security studies and intelligence studies; extending academic and scientific cooperation with renowned higher education institutions abroad; the SRI education personnel participation in international scientific events or in events organized by Romanian higher education institutions, as well as in national and European project competitions. In order to improve the professional capacity of the human resources, the Service went on supporting the participation of its employees in training activities organized:  on a national level, by other entities from the defense, public order, and national security system or by civil education bodies, as well as by public training providers, in view of achieving abilities in fields where SRI does not hold institutional training. SRI officers took part in training programs organized by MApN education bodies – the National Defense University “Carol I”, the Military Technic Academy, and the National Defense College, and MAI – the Multifunctional Schengen Training Center, and the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations. At the same time, the Service covered the education taxes for those employees who are/were attending specialized courses in different fields of interest for the activity that is carried out; such courses are organized in civil education institutions;  on an international level, by partner services or institutions/organizations competent in the field of security, in view of developing general and specific competencies for different domains of activity. In 2012, SRI employees took part in training activities in cooperation with partner intelligence services, seminars, international conferences, exchanges of experience, and international scientific activities. Also, at the request of certain institutions belonging to the defense, public order, and national security system – the Ministry of National Defense, the National Administration of Penitentiaries, and the Guard and Protection Service, SRI, through its own education 41 bodies, offered specialized training programs for attendees of the above-mentioned institutions. VII.2. Management of financial and logistic resources The financing of the budget expenditures of SRI was made observing the provisions of the Law regarding public finance, of the laws on state budget and on the social insurance budget for the year 2012, as well as of the legal framework modifying the respective laws, as well as the provisions specific to the national defense, public order and national security field; the financing was supported by the resource needs designed to meet the missions and objectives specific to the Service. According to the previously established procedure, the budget allocated to the Service was distributed through the Integrated Planning System, for each third party credit administrator, on major sector programs, and on expenditure categories. The funds allocated to units were changed throughout the execution process, following the redistribution of duties, and the need the make certain expenses that could not be precisely estimated at the beginning of the budgetary year (aids for military personnel in case of demise, covering the costs for training and professional improvement courses, a.s.o.). Also, once a semester, at the request of third-party credit administrators, the approved indicators were updated for major/sector programs, and for expenditure categories, according to the actual financing needs identified for each unit, strictly observing the structure of the latest approved budget, on each semester, on the budget classification. At the same time, based on OUG no.26/2012 concerning certain measures to reduce public expenses and the improvement of financial discipline, to change and complete certain legal acts, the protocol and the foreign travel expenses were reduced in the second semester of the year 2012 with 30% compared to those in the same interval of the year 2011. According to Law no.293/2011 regarding the state budget for year 2012, SRI initially received funds amounting to 989,383 million RON. During the year 2012, budget allocations were modified as follows:  based on HG no.754/2012 regarding the funds added to the SRI budget, which come from the Romanian Government Reserve Fund that was established in the state budget for 2012, 5,000 RON were added to the Service resources, in order to cover the necessary budgetary credits meant to support the specific activities of the national security domain;  through OG no.13/2012 regarding the state budget for the year 2012, and certain financial measures, additional budget allocations amounting to 21,006 thousand RON were approved;  following the MFP request, the budget allocations were supplemented with 20,814 thousand RON. 42 At the end of 2012, the final budget allocations amounted to 1,034,871 thousand RON (out of which, 1,021,980 thousand RON from the state budget, and 12,891 thousand RON from the Service’s own income). On expense categories, the final budget allocations were structured as follows:  Personnel expenses – 772,592 RON;  Goods and services – 151,938 RON;  Transfers between public administration units – 29,801 thousand RON;  Other transfers – 171 RON;  Projects funded with post-integration FEN funds – 8,743 thousand RON;  Social assistance – 5,851 thousand RON;  Other expenses – 75 thousand RON;  Non-financial assets – 65,700 thousand RON. According to the Integrated Planning System, budget execution for major programs was as follows:  information-operations – 326,028.81 thousand RON, 325,960.