Author(s): Mircea STAN
Publication name: Romanian Intelligence Studies Review
Publisher name: Mihai Viteazul National Intelligence Academy
Publication type: Journal article
Publication date: December 31, 2017
Pagination:
Issue/ Volume: 17-18/2017
DOI:
Abstract
This article attempts to present a perspective on the collaboration of Romanian
security and information services with similar structures in the Warsaw Treaty
Organization countries during the Cold War.
The assumptions made by the article are: the absence of a study exclusively
dedicated to the problem; the possibility of researching documents from physical or
virtual archives recently declassified and given for research; the importance of
exchanges of information in the work of Cold War security and intelligence services;
Romania’s effectiveness in exchanging information with partner countries and the
impact on national security; the inefficiency of the inter-institutional collaboration
between the Romanian intelligence and security services with similar structures due to
the political oscillations in Bucharest.
From the analysis of the available scientific material, exchanges of information
between the Securitate and the homologous services of the Warsaw Treaty Organization
experienced oscillating periods, from constant information exchanges to some sporadic
ones, and by the end of the Cold War these exchanges did not exist. Lack of institutional
collaboration was a factor for which the Securitate was de-institutionalized as an
institution in December 1989, influencing Romania’s evolution as a state on the
international stage.
The dissolution of security and intelligence services at key moments of a state’s
history is not a desirable scenery for the security of that state, in my opinion this is
rather the biggest vulnerability of that state.
Keywords: security, intelligence, counterintelligence, espionage,
intelligence cooperation, diplomacy
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