"Hurricane in the Army's Secret Services" by Doru Dragomir Bucharest Ziua 9 April 2003, p. 9 [FBIS Translated Text] Spectacular moves have been recently taking place within the intelligence services belonging to the National Defense Ministry. In 1999, the Intelligence and Military Representation Directorate merged with the Directorate for Military Security and with the Department for Assessments and Surveys. They are part of the same unit now, generically named the General Intelligence Directorate for Defense [DGIA]. The army's reform imposes yet another organizational chart for DGIA. This will mean massive layoffs and the complete restructuring of some units. Against this background, a veiled battle is currently being fought between those who feel that their positions are threatened and those who launched this reorganization and restructuring process. The army's intelligence service is one of the most powerful secret services in Romania. The General Intelligence Directorate for Defense provides information and surveys at the strategic level related to Romania's leadership. General Lieutenant Gheorghe Rotaru is the DGIA's incumbent head. Prime Minister Adrian Nastase appointed him based on a proposal by the defense minister. Rotaru has two generals under him. One is Sergiu Medar, the head of the Directorate for Intelligence and Military Representation (DIRM), who controls the service's foreign activities. The other is Gheorghe Nicolaescu, the head of the Directorate for Military Security (DSM), the army's former counter-espionage department. Malfunctions at the Military Security Department The reform that has been recently initiated within DGIA is also based on aspects that are less pleasant to those who lead the destinies of this secret service. Over time, the press has made public some of the DGIA's internal problems. The former Securitate officers' presence among the incumbent intelligence officers in the army, together with some flaws related to the DGIA's functioning, have been topics for the press and debates in the Romanian Parliament. Last year, the defense commission in the Chamber of Deputies criticized the activity carried out by several departments within the MApN [Defense Ministry]. After a meeting held in March 2002 with the DGIA head, MP Razvan Ionescu, the defense commission's chairman, said that some "unclear things and malfunctions" have been pointed out at the Directorate for Military Security. The commission's members also had a meeting at MApN's headquarters, with General Gheorghe Rotaru, the DGIA head, with General Gheorghe Nicolaescu, the DSM head, and with General Corneliu Pivariu, the deputy head of the Directorate for Intelligence and Military Representation. At that time Razvan Ionescu acknowledged that the "unclear things and malfunctions" that were found were related to the structure of the directorate, to its oversized status, and even to the manner in which funds are spent. Regarding funding, in 2003 DGIA was allotted 1,000 billion lei (almost $30 million). Ionescu pointed out that the MApN's leadership was familiar with these aspects. General Rotaru Denies the Presence of Former Securitate Officers Regarding the presence of former Securitate officers in the army, General Rotaru has several times said that no such person is under his subordination, even if the press cites concrete examples. While trying to clarify the presence of former Securitate members within the MApN's staff, during a news conference held in May 2002, General Lieutenant Gheorghe Rotaru, the director of the General Intelligence Directorate for Defense (DGIA) said that all the intelligence officers in the army have graduated from the MApN's educational structures. He said that only a few of them used to be active officers, for very short intervals before 1989, in other structures, which he refused to name. According to DGIA's head, "thousands and thousands of military and civilians belonging to the MApN's structures were subjected to checkup and notification proceedings. The North Atlantic Alliance did not make any remark on any of these persons." The Directorate for Military Intelligence Merged With the Research Directorate For unclear reasons, the MApN's former political and military leading structures did not have the courage to involve themselves radically in the restructuring of the intelligence services in the army. The first step was made this time. The Directorate for Intelligence and Military Representation passed under the direct subordination of the Army General Staff's [SMG] head. It transformed itself into J2 - "Intelligence." It absorbed the former Directorate for Research, led by General Nicu Apostu. General Sergiu Medar will remain at the helm of J2. He was promoted to the rank of General Major. General Medar will have a dual role. He will report both to the SMG's head and also to General Rotaru. According to some authorized military sources, the next move, which will trigger a genuine storm, will be to curb the number of the staff members at DSM -- the former Directorate for Counterintelligence, by approximately 25 to 30 percent. This process will start in the upcoming interval, in parallel with the new organization of J2 - "Intelligence." According to some internal sources in the DSM, curbing staff numbers will first take place in natural ways. Those who meet retirement conditions will leave the directorate first, followed by those who have only a few years left until retirement age, followed by those who have not graduated from a higher education institution. The same military sources told us that the entire process aimed at restructuring the DGIA falls within the MApN's human resources policy, which refers to the resizing of the Forces - Goal 2007. [Description of Source: Bucharest Ziua in Romanian -- popular, privately owned daily; generally critical of the political establishment across the board]