Securitate
The secret police of communist Romania
Overview
The Department of State Security, known as the Securitate, was founded in 1948 with Soviet guidance and became the main instrument of repression in communist Romania. Under Nicolae Ceausescu it watched the population through a vast informer network, required typewriters to be registered so that anonymous leaflets could be traced, and persecuted dissidents and churches. Its foreign arm targeted Romanian exiles, and its deputy chief Ion Mihai Pacepa defected to the United States in 1978, exposing its operations. The Securitate was dissolved after the 1989 revolution, and a national council now administers its archives and identifies former collaborators.
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