Foreign Intelligence Service (Romania)
| Serviciul de Informații Externe | |
 |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | February 8, 1990 |
| Preceding agency | |
| Headquarters | Bucharest |
| Employees | Classified |
| Annual budget | Classified |
| Agency executive |
|
| Website | www.sie.ro |
The Foreign Intelligence Service, or Serviciul de Informații Externe (SIE) in Romanian, is, under 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), and military regulations. The activity of the service has the character of a state secret. The sources of intelligence, the ways and means its mission is carried out cannot be disclosed to anyone, under whatever circumstances. The disclosure, in any way, of information and intelligence that make the object of activity of the Foreign Intelligence Service 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 national security. It also has the right, in the conditions established under the law, to ask for and obtain from the Romanian public authorities, companies, other legal entities, as well as from individuals, intelligence, information, or documents needed in accomplishing its missions.
By Decree no. 111/February 8, 1990 issued by the Committee of the National Salvation Front, the Foreign Intelligence Centre (Centrul de Informații 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 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.
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