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Ex-Securitate colonel, Ilie Merce worked since 1981 in Direction I of Securitate, department for art and culture. Between 1985-1986 he runs the compartment Ether, destined to counteract foreign radio stations broadcasting in Romanian. In 1986 he's named chief of Securitate in the Department of Buzau. He worked in the SRI (Romanian Secret Service formed in 1990, under democratic control) until 1996, when he is discharged, being accused of giving information to PRM (Great Romania Party, a party of former Securitate officers and nostalgic of communist times, with a nationalist discourse). He becomes a member of PRM, where he's vice-president. In 200 he becomes a deputy in the Romanian Parliament, even if NCSSA ruled he was one of the people involved in the communist repression.
You, the former officers, are you winning the battle with us?
No, the truth starts to come out. We didn't bring anybody down. We were doing our job. I mean Securitate after 1965.
All of you say this: "we were doing our jobs".
No, only the ones inside the system who know how the system worked. The others are just talking.
Good, then where is the evil?
The evil is in us.
In you, you mean?
Noooo. If we are talking about me, you should know I don't like speaking about me. I have an humanistic education.
Why do you think Mona Musca (deputy in the Romanian Parliament for the Liberal Party) signed the collaboration with Securitate?
Out of conviction. In her position, she felt useful and wanted to give a hand to prevent antisocial actions and not only that.
She was right to do that?
Very right. I don't say all the network was well-selected. Although in order to recruit an informer, a collaborator, a process of studying that lasted for maybe a year or two was needed. And there were four demands to be met.
The manual for recruitment
Let's hear them.
First of all, the person must have persona qualities. To be honest, a well-balanced person, intelligent and he must not be provocative. The second was to be a person with connections, with opportunities to get information in his field of activity. The third is a key demand, to be sure he/she will accept the collaboration.
Meaning that if there was no warranty he/she would accept the collaboration, you didn't even touch him/her?
No.
Why?
Any officer that knows his job aims to get rid of any flaws in this very delicate activity.
Why?
Because otherwise he would simply nail himself to the cross and risk being kicked out. You might miss one, it happens. We had this kind of situations. The man simply said:"This is not for me" and he was left alone, no repercussions, no hard feelings.
No blackmail or something?
Well, there were four basics for recruiting. First, using patriotic feelings, second, for material gains, then with the help of compromising materials. Especially for counterespionage.
For example?
He did a small infraction. Not so serious. For example, a foreign citizen: you caught him with some connections that would have dishonor his family.
A lover?
Of course. Or a jobbery. Or any kind of business.
You didn't report this to police, but you proposed him a deal...
We did inform the police, but together with them we came to the conclusion he was useful. I wrote this brochure about recruiting. We also used recruiting under a foreign flag.
What does it mean?
Someone, as an officer with Securitate, you were pretending to be, say, English. You would enter the country pretending to be English. Then, you would make contact with a person of interest, saying you're recruiting for that state.
"Legal" blackmail
But you admitted you used blackmails too. Wasn't that an offence to the human right?
It was absolutely legal It was stipulated in the laws of the time and in our work methodology. (...)
Between ’85 and ’86 you conducted actions against "Radio Free Europe". Are you sorry for that?
Not at all. This radio was the spokesman for CIA.
Meaning they were fighting against Ceausescu.
No, only against the Romanian people.
To destroy the people or what?
To call all to naught, sir.
All of a sudden to do that?
And to distract the attention from other issues. It was stupid in the end. What do I want to say is they were intoxicating the people with all sort of... and the party told us we should stop it. To neutralize these people with the help of the people we sent there...
Sending Carlos ("the Jackal", famous hit man) to blow up the place...
No. This is just another story. It was a joke.
But there were some people dying there.
Nobody died...
Vlad Georgescu was stabbed. (...)
Where do you identify the evil in the Securitate?
When we talk about Securitate, crimes, we are forgetting the obsessive decade (the '50-ies). Back the it was not Securitate doing the bad things, but the ones running the thing. All the structures had a KGB chief. in the '60 there was not a Romanian in charge. They were only field operatives. Why do we forget this period, blaming everything on Ceausescu.. Well Ceausescu liberalized and radically changed the work methods of Securitate. The main accent was on prevention. The man was free to manifest.
You acknowledged Securitate fished for teenagers as collaborators, especially those in XIth and XIIth grade, in society's interest...
And kids.
Meaning?
Teenagers at a certain age are very tempted and susceptible of bad influences that might lead to certain actions, maybe even penal actions, because back then there were some currents of extreme right.
I don't buy that. There were no currents back then.
Yes, they were, Coming from this generation. They were the rockers.
Doing what? Bringing down the dictatorship?!
Things are taking place slowly. Then they were the metalics (sic!), another current, then the satanists.
Do you really believe what you're saying? These youngsters were trying to bring down the system?
No in that instant. But some of them might be selected to do just that. Not all of them.
You were entering private life. They were only listening to music and bang their heads against the walls, it was their problem.
We only informed their parents of their wrong behavior.
Who said it was wrong, you did?
Well of course. Why do you think the services and the state organs exist? To prevent all evil from society, no matter what form it took. Well, what is wrong in that?
How much is your pension as a former Securitate officer?
I wrote this in my wealth declaration you can see it on the site. 2100 lei (around 600 euros; the average pension in Romania is 120 euros).But this is a consequence of 40 years of work. I don't think you should mind that.
(Interview by Dan Tapalaga, published in "Cotidianul", 17 august 2006, translated by Lucian Dragos)
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