SIE Chief Flew to Abu Dhabi for F1 Grand Prix Amid Security Crisis

The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE), Gabriel Vlase, accompanied by his deputy and two other people flew in a private plane to Azerbaijan in September to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Baku, according to G4Media. In the Service’s response to questions posed by journalists, the SIE Press Office exposed two active officers.

The publication also has information that Vlase also flew to Abu Dhabi, also on a private plane, while Romania was in the midst of a security crisis due to possible Russian interference in the presidential elections and just after CCR had decided to cancel the presidential elections due to possible Russian interference in the electoral process.

Gabriel Vlase flew on September 12 in a private jet to Baku, together with his deputy Ioan Octavian Brița, to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Azerbaijan for three days, as shown by the flight documents consulted by G4Media.ro and eyewitnesses who saw the two in the stands in Baku. According to the flight documents, two more people, whose identities are protected, traveled to Baku with the two SIE heads.

According to G4Media.ro sources, this is not the first private jet flight made by the head of the SIE, Gabriel Vlase. After G4Media journalists sent a request for information, according to them, although they did not refer to the status of the other two people who flew to Baku with the two SIE heads, the Public Relations Office revealed their status as active officers, which is a violation of the law.

The SIE explicitly invoked the active officer status of some of the individuals on board the plane to deter G4Media.ro from publishing the information, under the threat that “public disclosure of any information related to the SIE’s activity is prohibited” on the grounds that “it may give rise to vulnerabilities that could lead to security incidents and serious harm to the missions and lives of our personnel, serving the homeland, who are carrying out their activities abroad.”

On September 12, a Learjet 75 operated by Țiriac Air took off at 08:49 in the morning for Baku. On board the private jet was the head of the SIE, Gabriel Vlase, accompanied by his deputy, Ioan Octavian Brița, and two other people, according to G4Media.

The plane returned from Baku on September 15 and landed at Otopeni Airport at 15:10, according to data provided by boardingpass. According to industry sources, such a flight (duration 3.5 hours) costs between 50,000 and 70,000 euros.

According to specialists consulted by G4Media.ro, this security incident should be analyzed by the specialized committees in Parliament, which control the activity of the intelligence services.

Specialists consulted by G4Media.ro familiar with the functioning of the secret services exclude the possibility that the head of the service accompanied by his deputy participated “in an operational mission of the service”. These situations, the cited sources also explained, are entirely exceptional. The parliamentary control committees should establish, in this case, whether the head of the SIE used the operational funds for personal interest.

The Foreign Intelligence Service announced in a statement today that the director of the service, Gabriel Vlase, was in Azerbaijan, along with his deputy and two other people, on an external mission, “to the Baku Security Forum”.

“Regarding the article published on 09.12.2024 by G4media.ro, as well as the information taken over and circulated in the public space, which wrongly induce the idea that the trip of the Foreign Intelligence Service Management to Baku was carried out in private interest, for the correct information of public opinion, we specify that the SIE delegation made the trip as part of a foreign mission, at the invitation of the Azerbaijani counterparts to participate in the Baku Security Forum, an event that brought together delegations from over 50 countries,” says SIE, in the press release.

In the release, SIE states that “the event represented a good opportunity for the SIE delegation to discuss regional and global security issues in a bilateral and multilateral format.”

“Details regarding the Service’s external missions and participating personnel cannot be disclosed, given the legal provisions indicated in the response to the initial press request, which covered the period January 2020 – present,” the SIE added, a day after it exposed two active officers in its response to G4Media. In the statement, the SIE states that Gabriel Vlase participated in the Formula 1 Grand Prix “through the care of the hosts who invited the delegations to the event.”