activity report 2009.pdf

ROMANIA THE ROMANIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE REPORT on the Activity of the Romanian Intelligence Service in 2009 Through knowledge towards a safer world 1  CONTENTS CHAPTER I LANDMARKS OF THE MODERNIZATION PROCESS CHAPTER II PARAMETERS OF INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITY II.1. The intelligence activity II.2. Making use of intelligence II.2.1. Informing the decision-makers II.2.2. Specific prevention measures II.2.3. Notifying law enforcement authorities II.3. Protection against risks and threats II.4. Protection of classified information CHAPTER III DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION III.1. Cooperation with other institutions III.2. Cooperation with foreign partners III.2.1 Multilateral cooperation III.2.2 Bilateral cooperation CHAPTER IV COORDINATION AND CONTROL OVER THE ACTIVITY OF THE SERVICE IV.1. Strategic coordination by the Supreme Council for National Defence IV.2. Democratic oversight IV.2.1. Parliamentary oversight IV.2.2. Legal control IV.2.3. Financial control CHAPTER V COOPERATION WITH THE CIVIL SOCIETY V.1. The relationship with the civil society and security education V.2. Public and media relations V.3. Transfer of the Securitate files 2 CHAPTER VI RESOURCE MANAGEMENT VI.1 Management of human resources VI.1.1 HR parameters VI.1.2. Training and professional development VI.2. Management of financial and logistical resources CHAPTER VII PRIORITIES FOR 2010 3 CHAPTER I LANDMARKS OF THE MODERNIZATION PROCESS The modernization process which began in 2008 was enhanced in 2009. The implemented measures were aimed at developing the operational capabilities of the Service, at increasing its flexibility, its response capacity as well as the cooperation with intelligence legal customers and law enforcement bodies. Overall, the activity of SRI followed the upwards trend of previous years, showing progress in intelligence gathering, assessing and delivery. This was also a result of having implemented adequate mechanisms for planning and employing the available resources. The Intelligence Strategy project was drafted. It lays out the mission, the major objectives and action guidelines of the Service on the long term. The project establishes the benchmarks needed to render operational the project management process and performance indicators. At the same time a new planning concept was implemented and the SRI budget for 2010 was set up on sector programs which are the necessary tools for budgetary planning on the long term. The measures aimed at increasing the efficiency of intelligence work involved reassessing concepts, developing teamwork, consolidating and diversifying cooperation within the Service. In the organization of the intelligence work of the Service, the old concept of national safety was replaced with national security projects, which were defined so as to cover all the issues under SRI responsibility. The intelligence and decision-making procedures and flows were updated, as well as HUMINT related processes. The implemented decisions were aimed at:  Adequately channelling efforts according to security priorities;  Simplifying and rendering more flexible the procedures, intelligence flows and decentralizing decision making;  Developing IT systems and setting up dedicated platforms for cooperation within the Service and between SRI and other institutions;  Using operational assessments in intelligence work as a guidance tool in intelligence gathering. The analytical component of the intelligence process was also a priority. The aim was to improve the intelligence integration, analysis and delivery systems but also to consolidate the role of operational assessments. In 2009, SRI began a standardization process in the field of intelligence analysis. It was focused on developing and rendering operational analytical concepts and methodologies similar to those used by other services in NATO and EU countries. Thus:  Analytical concepts and methodologies were strengthened;  Efforts were made to increase the professional expertise of analysts through specialized training and direct cooperation with central and county intelligence 4  units (through working groups, professional training, experience and good practice exchanges);  The strategic analysis component was developed; The integration of OSINT in our internal flows was one of the stage objectives of the cooperation development process. This was seen as a tool for rendering daily activities more efficient and for a better analytical management of intelligence. At the same time, the Service developed its OSINT capabilities, which are seen both as an internal source of intelligence and as a source of analytical products destined for a wide range of national beneficiaries or foreign partner organizations/bodies. In 2009 internal and international cooperation was strengthened and deepened. This ensured our Service additional opportunities to acquire knowledge of the risk dynamics and adapt its capacities to prevent and counter security threats. Despite financial constraints, the objectives set for this period were accomplished in what regards the development of IT&C systems and ensuring support platforms for cooperation within the Service and between SRI and other institutions both domestic and foreign. Special attention was paid to setting up the CYBERINT National Center and rendering it operational, by enforcing the decision of the Supreme Council of National Defense which designated SRI as national authority in the field. Some of the relevant developments are listed below:  Optimizing the IT&C infrastructure in order to ensure integrated IT&C services;  Setting up cooperation tools which involve the electronic management of documents;  Developing technical and human capabilities necessary to the Service in enforcing authorization documents (such as warrants), carrying out forensic expertise, issuing authorizations, performing audit activities and risk analysis in the field of classified information protection, equipment and IT&C system protection, as well as electronic signature devices for cryptographic protection and TEMPEST. In 2009 the HR management concept was redefined; the principles and mechanisms of career development in the intelligence field were structured so as to allow, to a reasonable degree, the predictability of professional evolution. In what regards personnel training, an important reform of the university curricula was started on the topic of intelligence in order to increase professional performance and to better relate to the research activity in the field of national security. The HR management process was reorganized and modern personnel selection training and promotion tools were defined. At the same time, a direct dialogue was developed between training and specialization structures and beneficiaries (in order to orient training activities function of the needs of the Service). Moreover, the current professional training curricula were revised while taking steps to renew the accreditation of the National Intelligence Academy according to the Bologna principles. 5 CHAPTER II PARAMETERS OF INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITY The security situation in 2009 was influenced by the global financial crisis, but also by certain specific developments with consequences on Romanian interests. According to the priorities set down in the previous report, the manifestations of the economic crisis were one of the main targets of SRI activity in order to provide intelligence support to decision makers. The importance of economic risks – considering their effects in almost all areas of activity – represented additional pressure in rendering the Service more efficient. The implemented measures ensured a balance between costs and advantages. The intelligence operational activity was adapted to the changes in the security situation; intelligence resources were focused on major objectives providing knowledge necessary to counteract potential security threats through specialized methods or by informing decision makers. II.1. The Intelligence Activity Overall in 2009 the intelligence operational activity of SRI registered a qualitative progress which is reflected in the delivery process. Channelling intelligence efforts into the major priorities of national security allowed for a better use of intelligence resources: capabilities were assigned to large scale operations, to the detriment of actions with lower impact. In order to continue the process of optimizing SRI activity which started in recent years, a series of measures were implemented with a view to:  Rendering operational the new HUMINT activity concept;  Focusing the intelligence operational activity on solving cases of major relevance for national security by assigning HUMINT and specialized technical resources;  Rendering more flexible intelligence operational activities and reducing bureaucracy by updating intelligence and decision making flows;  Decentralizing activities both at decision making and execution level; at the same time more value is set on team work, as it increases the coherence of actions and ensures higher response capabilities to operational developments;  Developing operational assessments and strengthening direct cooperation analysis and intelligence operational areas;  Better usage of OSINT resources in every day activity, by employing them operationally in intelligence gathering activities and ensuring the necessary support in documenting relevant security developments;  Improving IT&C tools and their use in both the coordination of processes and in horizontal cooperation.  Strengthening the legal support of specific activities and cooperation with legal counsellors in order to insure the observance of the legal framework.  In comparison with the previous year (when various important operational moments took place, among which the NATO Summit), there was a relative drop in total volume of intelligence gathered. However the implementation of stricter quality criteria led to a better use of the gathered data and intelligence. 6 Following the pattern of the dynamics registered in the EU, in 2009 there was an increase in the intelligence gathered from secret technical sources and open sources in corroboration with the development of the analytical component of the intelligence activity. Function of the intelligence resources used, the ratio of intelligence gathered was the following:  Human secret sources – 43.39%;  Technical secret sources – 17.33%;  Special secret sources – 3.13%;  Analytical resources – 17.88%;  Open and official sources – 8.37%;  Other sources (including cooperation/information exchange) – 9.90%. Everyday activity was connected to the map of security challenges, starting from the tendencies projected in the 2009 Intelligence Estimate of SRI. Thus, there were mainly taken into account the following aspects:  The obvious and possible effects of the economic crisis, which seriously affected almost all social and economic areas;  Deficiencies in employing available resources, which could increase domestic vulnerabilities associated with the difficult economic framework;  Perpetuation of energy security risks associated to international developments in the field and continental challenges in order to ensure competitiveness and free access to resources and to production and transport infrastructure;  The continuous specialization of organized crime groups as well as new connections between various networks including from distant parts of the world;  Aggressive espionage activities and intelligence attacks carried out by entities with interests different from those of our country;  The dynamics of the terrorist phenomenon, in the context of more aggressive forms of radicalization, proselytism and extremist discourse which also became manifest in the virtual environment;  The emergence of atypical challenges and risks – which are formally outside the area of responsibility of intelligence services but with potentially major implications on Romania’s security interests – environmental risks, pandemics, regional development imbalances; The distribution of intelligence reflected the national security priorities and the developments which arose in the operational situation; the ratio is as follows:  50,50% targeted vulnerabilities and risks on the domestic component of national security;  49.50% were aimed at protecting and promoting Romania’s security interests in the international framework, and targeted as well as the risks and threats to the Euro-Atlantic area; However, the rapid development of security challenges and interests, blurred the distinction between the two; the distinction remaining a simple statistical tool. Basically, over 40% of the intelligence gathered by SRI in 2009 had mixed content, and referred to connections between domestic risks and external threats (from terrorism to espionage, from energy insecurity to cross-border crimes). This dynamics determined SRI to adapt its actions in order to monitor the risk generating processes 7 and activities; this entailed a cooperative approach meant to ensure the efficient use of available resources and to prevent a waste of effort. The distribution of the intelligence gathered can be described as follows, according to SRI’s main responsabilities:  The defense of order and constitutional values – 25.67%  Economic security – 24.33%  The prevention and countering of terrorism – 13.78%  Counterespionage and promoting certain security interests – 16.50%  Cross-border threats – 15,06%  The protection of classified information 2.34%  IT&C risks and threats – 1.82% II.2. Intelligence delivery II.2.1. Informing decision-makers This activity was correlated with the development of security risks and threats:  At the beginning of 2009, the main objectives were correctly identified based on the estimates of the previous year and domestic economic and social priorities as well as on foreign policy priorities;  The analytical monitoring of security changes and tendencies and the timely correlation of efforts and needs;  Developing the relation with beneficiaries and active use of feedback in order to adapt the intelligence flow. In order to achieve the undertaken goals, decision-makers were permanently informed with regards to the objectives and current needs of national security:  Deliveries were adapted and forecasts were provided function of domestic and international events with an impact on security;  Increasing the contribution of beneficiaries, by employing their feedback and requests in order to channel the gathering and analysis processes of the Service;  The number of strategic deliveries increased. The positive results are reflected in feedback of legal beneficiaries to deliveries. Thus, there was a quantitative and qualitative growth which became manifest in the last years: the feedback increased by 13, 3% (from 473 in 2008 to 536 in 2009); 82, 84% of them were positive remarks on the quality and opportunity of SRI deliveries. In 2009 SRI sent to its main legal beneficiaries/clients 2,187 integrated documents, i.e. 3,967 intelligence items. Deliveries were sent to our beneficiaries/clients on the “need to know principle” and function of their responsibilities (the assumed goal is for deliveries to reach the competent beneficiary able to take preventive and corrective measures), the main beneficiaries were the members of the Executive (53.25%) and the Romanian presidency (36.04%). 8 The distribution of documents function of the national security issues they covered was the following:  Economic security – 32.79%;  Defense of constitutional values – 27.98%;  Supporting the foreign policy objectives of Romania – 28.76%;  Terrorist and organized crime vulnerabilities / risks – 4.25%;  Complex assessments focusing on multiple security fields – 6.22%. Overall, the number of deliveries dropped in comparison to the previous year, as a consequence of:  Channelling the intelligence activity on major security issues, which in turn led to feeding the analytical process with more complex intelligence;  Changes in the structure of the Government, which generated some discontinuities (until the new beneficiaries took over their responsibilities and obtained access to classified information). From the quality point of view, the approach focused on the main objectives led to a better integration of available information, the average number of intelligence units used rose from 1.33 (in 2008) to 1.85 (in 2009). At the same time:  The positive trend registered in the last years concerning the number of deliveries that have an evaluative/anticipatory nature was preserved; thus strategic assessments were provided regarding the security environment and the dynamics of risk factors to national security; also, relevant aspects of national security were conveyed in connection with developments in cert