Editing Romanian Intelligence Service (section)

===Relationship with the press===
The Romanian Intelligence Service had an uneasy relationship with the press, which it monitored, infiltrated and accused of being a national security liability. In 2010, "the press" has been included in the list of national vulnerabilities in the "National Strategy for the Defence of the Country".<ref name="cata">{{cite news|title=Câteva cazuri de ofițeri acoperiţi din presa românească|url=http://www.catavencii.ro/Cateva-cazuri-de-ofiteri-acoperiti-din-presa-romaneasca_0_5453.html|newspaper=Cațavencii|date=September 5, 2012|access-date=16 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320230038/http://www.catavencii.ro/Cateva-cazuri-de-ofiteri-acoperiti-din-presa-romaneasca_0_5453.html|archive-date=20 March 2013}}</ref>

An early controversy occurred in 1996, when Tana Ardeleanu (a journalist for ''[[Ziua]]'' who had published some articles about President [[Ion Iliescu]]) had been [[wikt:shadowing|shadowed]] by SRI agents.<ref name="Băleanu">{{cite book |last=Băleanu |first=Virgil George |title=A Clear and Present Danger to Democracy: The New Romanian Security Services are Still Watching |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/romania/csrc12045.htm |year=1996 |publisher=[[Conflict Studies Research Centre]], [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]] }}</ref> Amid press anger, SRI director [[Virgil Măgureanu]] admitted that SRI agents followed Ardeleanu and argued that the surveillance was a "mistake" and that the agents thought they were following two suspected spies.<ref name="Băleanu"/>

The existence of infiltrated SRI agents in the press has been publicly known since 2006, when the press officer of SRI claimed that the Service has always had [[Mole (espionage)|moles]] in the Romanian press arguing that it's not illegal.<ref name="cartitele">{{cite news |title=SRI, ia-ti cartitele din presa! |url=http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/sri-ia-ti-cartitele-din-presa-401699.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130705214150/http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/sri-ia-ti-cartitele-din-presa-401699.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 5, 2013 |newspaper=[[Evenimentul Zilei]] |date=July 25, 2006 |access-date=16 April 2013 }}</ref> This claim has been quite controversial, as, according to [[Cristian Tudor Popescu]], journalists are not a threat to national security<ref name="cartitele"/> and, according to historian [[Marius Oprea]], this leads to suspicions about whether the SRI has [[political police]] activities.<ref name="cartitele"/>

The ''[[Jurnalul Național]]'' newspaper fired its [[editor-in-chief]], Valentin Zaschievici, in August 2012, accusing him of being an infiltrated SRI agent, following the leak of some SRI documents by ''[[Cotidianul]]''.<ref name="Redactor">{{cite news|title=Redactor-șef de la "Jurnalul Național", dat afară pentru colaborare cu SRI |url=http://www.adevarul.ro/financiar/media/Redactor-sef_de_la_-Jurnalul_National-dat_afara_pentru_colaborare_cu_SRI_0_756524549.html |newspaper=[[Adevărul]] |date=August 16, 2012 |access-date=16 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120820025114/http://www.adevarul.ro/financiar/media/Redactor-sef_de_la_-Jurnalul_National-dat_afara_pentru_colaborare_cu_SRI_0_756524549.html |archive-date=August 20, 2012 }}</ref> The Romanian Intelligence Service admitted that the documents were indeed genuine, but it claimed that their agent was only monitoring the leaking of secret documents to the press.<ref name="Redactor"/>

In 2013, [[George Maior]], the Director of the Service, accused the press of organizing an attack campaign against the Romanian Intelligence Service, giving as example the investigations over the illegal CIA prisons in Bucharest ([[Bright Light (CIA)|Bright Light]]), which he argued that is exposing Romania to terrorist attacks.<ref name="Maior">{{cite news |title=George Maior, directorul SRI: presa ne împiedică să ne facem activitatea și ne expune pericolului terorist |url=http://jurnalul.ro/stiri/observator/george-maior-directorul-sri-presa-ne-impiedica-sa-ne-facem-activitatea-si-ne-expune-pericolului-terorist-637458.html |newspaper=[[Jurnalul Național]] |date=February 22, 2013 |access-date=16 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225112757/http://jurnalul.ro/stiri/observator/george-maior-directorul-sri-presa-ne-impiedica-sa-ne-facem-activitatea-si-ne-expune-pericolului-terorist-637458.html |archive-date=25 February 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>