Silenzio Stampa: No More CNSAS Statements

The CNSAS (the National Council for the Study of the State Archives) members go on a strike. They will not give any more verdicts until SRI (the Romanian Information Service) will send them an official paper to say they have received all the files of the politicians. Sci-Fi preoccupation during the strike: searching the offices for microphones guilty for the information leaks.

Yesterday, during an extraordinary meeting, the CNSAS members have decided not to take any decision regarding the files they are studying at present until the information services and the other authorized institutions send them an official document saying they had received all the documents necessary for the respective files. "We are waiting for a firm answer from the institutions that have the documents that regard the CSAT (the Supreme Council for the Country Defense) decision saying that all these files have been or will be sent to CNSAS until the 30th of August", Claudiu Secasiu, the President of the College, stated. However, he didnât give a clear explanation regarding the reason of this decision: "We have the procedure for the research of the files we have already received, but we also want to know for sure that, when we will discuss these cases, CNSAS had received all the files that regard the CSAT decision."

JUST HEARINGS

Until then, CNSAS will continue its activities, and, next week, on the 22nd of August, a first round of hearings is to take place. Even though all CNSAS members refused saying the names of the politicians invited to these hearings, Ticu Dumitrescu, as well as Cazimir Ionescu, have confirmed that the names are on the already famous list of the 29. Some of them are quite important politicians: Adrian Nastase, Marko Bela, Radu Berceanu, Puiu Hasotti, Gyorgy Frunda. However, the hearings donât mean the respective politicians have informer files, Claudiu Secasiu mentioned.

SECRET VOTE

Another decision the CNSAS members have taken yesterday targeted the secret vote and the elimination of the abstentions for all the members. "The vote of the college will be secret. We will use voting bulletins with only two cases to chose from, "yes" and "no", and this will change the Collegeâs attitude a lot. From this moment on, even though we cannot talk about any kind of political control, about any kind of outside influence, we will certainly talk about a vote of conscience", Cazimir Ionescu, the institutionâs spokesperson, stated.

SIE FILES

On the other hand, after the Monday statement of Ticu Dumitrescu saying SIE (the External Information Service) was to send four files of certain politicians to CNSAS, yesterday, the President of the College, Claudiu Secasiu, Mircea Dinescu and Cazimir Ionescu went to the SIE headquarters. After the meeting, Secasiu did not confirm the four names mentioned in the media: Theodor Stolojan, Teodor Melescanu, Adrian Severin and Mircea Geoana. He said the information is not relevant until the CNSAS decision.

GUILTY

It seems that Traian Basescu is behind the Security filesâ "hysteria", according to yesterdayâs accusations of SDP (Social Democratic Party) Senator Sorin Oprescu. "These days, I am under the impression that there is an immense manipulation from Cotroceni managed by President Traian Basescu, who uses the Security files as a pretext for reaching certain unmentioned goals", Oprescu said. He explained that the threat regarding the publishing of a list with the names of 100 Parliament Members that could have been connected to the former Security has been "launched on the underground market of rumors by a former collaborator of the President", Cozmin Gusa, who warned the names of the 100 politicians will appear in more steps.

"NETWORK" ATTEMPT

One of the politicians present on the list of the 29, Gyorgy Frunda, went to the CNSAS headquarters to take a look on his file yesterday. The conclusion? "I had network files, both because they had tried to head-hunt me, but they didnât manage to. There was no deal, I did not send any informative notes, I didnât have any code name", the Senator stated afterwards. He stated that in 1982-1983, when he was a lawyer, they have tried to take him as informer for the Security, but he had refused and had been forced to write two documents. "In the first year, I refused the collaboration and I said I knew what I had to do in case the stateâs security was threatened, because I was a lawyer. When they saw I wrote that, I was forced to give another statement saying I would never make public the fact they had tried to head-hunt me", Frunda said. After yesterdayâs check of the file, the Senator says he only found the second paper, and he asked for a more thorough search regarding his file.

LOOKING FOR THE MICROPHONEâ¦

Yesterday, during a discussion at CNSAS during the internal investigation regarding the information leak, the members of the College have tried to exculpate themselves, but they launched the idea they could be listened. "These modern gadgets cost a few hundred dollars and anyone could own such things", some of them seem to have said. The suspicion of the listening also targeted the mobile phone conversations of the members of the College. To set things right, the administrator of the mobile telephony network has been requested to run some checks regarding this fact. The offices will be under the same treatment as well. The College has adopted some measures for the protection of the classified information. "The measures target administrative sanctions. The smallest of the sanctions will apply for carelessness, like in the case of the famous list in the media", Ladislau Cendes stated for us.

Translated by Sorin Balan