Securitate

This article is about the romanian agency. For the Law & Order episode, see Securitate (Law & Order).

Department of State Security

Departamentul Securității Statului
Coat of arms of Romania (1965–1989)
Agency overview
Formed	30 August 1948 (as the DGSP)
Preceding agencies	Siguranța SMERSH of Romania Mobile Brigade
Dissolved	30 December 1989
Superseding agencies	Romanian Intelligence Service Foreign Intelligence Service Protection and Guard Service Special Telecommunication Service
Type	Secret police Intelligence agency
Jurisdiction	Romania
Headquarters	Bucharest
Employees	15,312 Securitate employees (1989) 23,370 Security Troops (1989) c. 400,000 informants (1989)
Agency executives	Gheorghe Pintilie, director, (1948–1959, first) Iulian Vlad, head, (1987–1989, last)
Parent agency	Ministry of Interior (1948–1951, 1955–1989) Ministry of State Security (1951–1955)
Child agency	See list

The Department of State Security (Romanian: Departamentul Securității Statului), commonly known as the Securitate (pronounced [sekuriˈtate], lit. 'Security'), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the Siguranța with help and direction from the Soviet MGB.

The Securitate was, in proportion to Romania's population, one of the largest secret police forces in the Eastern bloc. The first budget of the Securitate in 1948 stipulated a number of 4,641 positions, of which 3,549 were filled by February 1949: 64% were workers, 4% peasants, 28% clerks, 2% persons of unspecified origin, and 2%