activity report 2008.pdf

ns and intelligence reports it sent, the Romanian Intelligence Service provided specialized support to the prosecution process by cooperating with the proper authorities on specific issues within their area of expertise. The Service’s support for law enforcement authorities consisted in: - providing the Public Ministry with the basic intelligence that helped produce SRI reports/notifications; - (upon request) providing the appropriate authorities with data on individuals involved in criminal activities; - (following requests from law enforcement) solving declassification requests; - taking part in mixed operational teams (alongside Prosecutors’ Bureaus) and common analyses with the Prosecutors; - providing scientific results and expertise; - solving information requests (from law enforcement authorities) relating to former and present employees of the Romanian Intelligence Service that are criminally prosecuted. II.3. Protection against terrorist risks and threats The Romanian Intelligence Service has aimed for the early identification of situations with an eventual terrorist threat and the efficient countering of activities that could generate threats to the security of Romanian and foreign citizens, as well as for the objectives and interests of Romania and its partners. 16 Due to the fact that international terrorism promoters are not directly interested in Romania and following the efficient countering measures undertaken, both directly by SRI and in the National System for the Prevention and Countering of Terrorism (coordinated by SRI), the terrorist threat has been kept at a moderate level, which serves as a base for maintaining the current level of terrorist threat (BLUE/CAUTIOUS). Overall, there is no direct and explicit terrorist threat to the security interests of our country, although the last year evolutions have shown a certain intensifying of individual and unstructured activities aiming for the promotion of extremist ideas and concepts. Without posing a significant threat on medium and long term, such activities might favor the phenomenon of (self-) radicalization, as well as a type of behavior that could motivate the support of terrorism and even the undertaking of terrorist acts. Due to the implications of such activities on the national territory or against Romanian objectives and interests, SRI identified and eliminated the threat causes in this field through:  discouraging terrorist-linked activities. In 2008, SRI documented and undertook 197 preventive measures, such as: - suspending the right of residence and adding to the list of inadmissible persons for Romania / banning the entry to Romania (20 cases); - determining / notifying 177 individuals whose actions could have led to threats to national security to quit;  providing the protection of diplomatic missions accredited to Romania, whose security is circumscribed to the legal competences of SRI. The specialized protection activities carried out by the SRI include the antiterrorist check of 6183 persons and 2,695 pieces of luggage. 76 potentially dangerous items and 5 situations of arms-carrying without legal documents have been identified, while 4 suspects have been yielded to the police. In addition, in order to provide an adequate security level and to prevent eventual threats, 1,552 antiterrorist research patrol missions and 227 temporary missions to enforce antiterrorist protection/intervention units have been undertaken.  providing antiterrorist protection/guard In this period, SRI specialized structures have carried out: - 1,090 antiterrorist protection/guard missions for Romanian and foreign officials; - 35 temporary antiterrorist protection/guard missions; - 261 missions to enforce antiterrorist protection/intervention units in places whose protection is provided by the SRI; - 2 missions to enforce antiterrorist intervention units in cooperation with other forces of the national security system;  antiterrorist/antihijacking check and antiterrorist protection in civil airports 17 SRI has undertaken the following actions: - specialized checks of 6,046,957 persons and 14,638,537 pieces of luggage; - the discovery of 104,636 potentially dangerous items; - the discovery of weapons (in 68 cases) and illegal possession of ammunition (in 35 cases); - the discovery of 71,227 potentially dangerous items; - specialized checks on 522 airplanes;  antiterrorist intervention/counterterrorist pyrotechnics. The following missions have been carried out: - 149 antiterrorist pyrotechnics intervention missions in bomb suspicions and threats; - 3 counterterrorist pyrotechnics interventions for the neutralization of identified explosive devices; - 2,879 antiterorist pyrotechnics intervention missions carried out on different occasions and on requests; - 2,438 antiterrorist research missions on “terrorist target” sites. Relative to the previous year and as a result of an increased security culture, a significant drop in telephone bomb threats has been registered (from 738, to 416), while the SRI actions have led to the identification of 78 of their authors. II.4. Classified information protection SRI as designated security authority for the protection of national, NATO and EU classified information has carried out the following activities:  Providing expertise and punctual contributions, as well as a special agreement in the legislation review process within this field;  Carrying out the procedures of security vetting, in the area of competence, in order to counter the leaks of classified information from the entities that hold such information;  Undertaking the necessary steps in the security vetting process for natural persons’ access to national and NATO/EU classified information;  Carrying out the necessary checks in order to provide industrial security clearances and special authorizations for taking photographs, filming and mapping sites and areas of special importance for the protection of state secrets;  Providing support and counseling to public authorities, governmental institutions and legal persons, on their request;  Monitoring the implementation of classified information protection measures. As part of the cooperation with other security-designated authorities, SRI has answered to 2,424 requests for information in security vetting procedures of natural and legal persons in order to grant access to state secrets, as well as other notifications regarding contracts that lead to transfers of classified information. 18 Most of the requests have been sent to the Ministry of Administration and the Interior (cca 1200) and to the Foreign Intelligence Service (over 1100). On its behalf, SRI received 593 answers to requests such as the above-mentioned ones, given to the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Administration and Interior, the Special Telecommunications Service and the Protection and Guard Service. The Romanian Intelligence Service has provided the adequate conditions necessary to carry out the collection, transport, distribution and protection of classified information in Romania, registering an increase in the number of requests due to a larger number of beneficiary institutions (10% increase on the previous year) and the volume of processed correspondence (3.8% increase). 2008 marked a significant increase in the number of missions carried out, also due to the NATO Summit held in Bucharest (from 8,800 in 2007 to aprox. 11,000). The correspondence also increased in volume with over 100.000 official conveys relative to 2007 to a number of 2,664,568 conveys (envelopes, packages, containers, etc). 19 CHAPTER III NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION III.1. Inter-institutional cooperation The Romanian Intelligence Service has continuously worked to develop the cooperation with the other institutions within the national security system and to improve the collaborative mechanisms aimed at ensuring an adequate support for the decision-makers. SRI has taken up a pro-active attitude in the field of inter-institutional cooperation, especially in those dimensions where it exerts its responsibility of national/designated authority. In this regard, SRI has been granting a special attention to ensure the efficient functioning of the National System for Preventing and Countering Terrorism, the protection of the classified information, the development of the open source analysis capabilities, as well as the national capabilities in CYBERINT. SRI and other Romanian institutions’ joint endeavors to address the security challenges and to develop the communication and coordination mechanisms have led to a growing trend in their cooperation, as compared to 2007. The growing needs of real-time communication and cooperation between entities with responsibilities in the field of national security have spurred the inter-institutional cooperation. From this perspective, the organization of the NATO Summit in Bucharest was a test for the institutional cooperation capabilities and multi-sector joint efforts in national security. 2008 marked SRI’s significant active participation in the cooperation of inter- institutional structures. Progress has been made in terms of quality – especially the utility and the finality of the products - as well as the volume of exchanged information. Regarding the dimension of the inter-institutional relations, it is worth mentioning the development of the cooperation with the Foreign Intelligence Service and the intelligence structures within the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meant to support various Romanian foreign policy initiatives, as well as to promote and protect national interests on the international arena. One can also notice that these institutions have shown a higher level of interest in the information received, which has increased the efficiency of our joint endeavors. The pragmatic approach of the subjects tackled at experts’ level has played a significant role in the increase of quality and operativity of the exchange of information, the development of technical cooperation and in organizing an increased number of joint operations. Inter-institutional cooperation activities have resulted in:  Operational exchange of information, on various matters related to national security. 20 The exchange of information has focused on: - preventing and countering illegal activities of gathering information in favor of foreign entities; - implications on national security derived from the evolution of the international security environment; - risk sources related to terrorism; - risk factors and threats to public order and security of the individuals, extremist activities; - preventing and countering organized crime, corruption, fraud and money laundering; - vulnerabilities and risks related to the protection of IT and communications (IT&C) systems; - transnational threats; - preventing and countering the illegal traffic of weapons, ammunition, explosive materials, nuclear or radioactive materials, toxic and biological agents, as well as products, technologies and services under international-regime control or forbidden by international treaties and conventions; - assuring the security of official missions and the prevention of events that might endanger the life or the physical integrity of domestic and foreign personalities. The volume of the information exchange has reached 16.570 products: SRI delivered 11.466 intelligence products (77.54% more than the precedent year) to the signatory institutions of the Overall Cooperation Protocol and has received 5.104 products (3 times more than in 2007).  ● conducting joint missions, which has required SRI to take complex measures. In 2008, 13.398 cooperation activities have been carried out to accomplish various national security objectives, resulting in: antiterrorist (AT) control activities, AT pyrotechnic interventions, exchange of expertise and specialists aimed to accomplish various joint responsibilities, mutual support in the process of personnel training and professional development.  ● conducting investigations and granting authorizations regulated by Law no.333/2003 regarding the security of the objectives, goods and the protection of individuals, as well as by Law no.21/1991 regulating the Romanian citizenship, at the request of the Ministry of Interior and Administration and Ministry of Justice (8.370 situations).  ● providing technical-operational assistance or specialized support for various missions of high complexity conducted by institutions within the national security system (in 37.907 cases).  ● performing (upon request) verifications in SRI’s data bases (70.432 cases) to support the operations of other institutions. III.2. International cooperation 21 Globalized security threats have spurred the cooperation with the institutions and intelligence agencies in different countries (notably the states within the Euro-Atlantic community), as well as with international structures with responsibilities in the field of countering various risks’ sources. Cooperation has focused on measurable, pragmatic objectives, oriented to specific results. Within NATO and the EU, SRI has accomplished its duties as the main intelligence body, as well as Romania’s representative within specialized structures of these two organizations. In accordance with Romania’s foreign policy principles and the objectives approved by the Supreme Council of National Defence, SRI has taken forward the initiatives to strengthen and develop the cooperation with similar foreign services, along with starting new partnerships. The international cooperation activities carried out by SRI focused on the protection and promotion of Romania’s security interests, by:  strengthening Romania’s strategic partnerships and special relations with the Allied states;  assuring the institutional and operational compatibility with intelligence and security structures belonging to NATO and EU members states;  increasing SRI’s contribution to the cooperation projects and analytical exchange within NATO and EU;  increasing SRI’s contribution to accomplish Romania’s commitments in the field of security, in relation with international bodies and organizations;  making use of the multilateral cooperation initiatives to increase efficiency in what concerns the preventing and countering the security risks and threats;  developing the cooperation with the intelligence and security services belonging to Balkan states, in order to counter joint risks and threats;  extending the collaboration with partners in other areas of strategic interest or areas posing risks to national security. SRI’s endeavors to initiate/strengthen the cooperation relations have resulted in a 30% increase in the international cooperation activities, compared to 2007. At the end of 2008, SRI had 84 relations of cooperation with 84 security and intelligence services in 62 countries, with 22 law enforcement structures, 3 security structures belonging to EU and NATO Office of Security. Our Service is part in 5 inter-Services initiatives of multilateral cooperation. Nonetheless, it is worth mentioning the increased number of high-level contacts with counterpart representatives of various intelligence and security bodies within the Euro-Atlantic community, as well as Central and South-East European countries. III.2.1. Multilateral cooperation The growing trend of the cooperation with the NATO structures has reached the highest level during the organization of the Bucharest NATO Summit, event which marked the political and security agenda of our country for 2008 and had a significant impact on SRI’s foreign relations.  SRI’s contribution to national endeavors to assure the security of the NATO Summit in Bucharest have translated into: 22  - organizing activities, in the period before the summit, in cooperation with the allied Services and specialized NATO bodies; - operationalizing the International Cell for Information. The way this event has been organized, as well as the results accomplished by our Service received the appreciation of the foreign allied institutions and NATO bodies; based on the expertise gained on this occasion, our Service provided further assistance to our foreign partners involved in the organization of the Strasbourg-Kehl NATO Summit.  SRI accomplished its responsibilities within the NATO cooperation formats by delivering analytical contributions and integrated documents with a high- level of complexity to the NATO competent bodies or taking part in NATO activities of cooperation, at leadership or experts’ level. SRI’s assessments, voluntary contributions or answers to the requests of information focused on the main topics of interest for the Euro-Atlantic community (the security situation in various conflict areas, threats to NATO or its member states and so