DefMin Fifor pays visit to NATO HUMINT Centre of Excellence in Oradea

National Defence Minister Mihai Fifor paid a visit to the NATO HUMINT Centre of Excellence in Oradea, aimed at documenting the facilities of the centre. The main topic of discussions with representatives of the institution focused on the current and future challenges regarding the military information, the National Defence Ministry (MApN) mentioned.

"Taking into account an uncertain international environment, Romania is taking important steps for strengthening its profile as a regional security and stability pillar inside NATO and the EU. I strongly believe in the strategic advantage of the intelligent use of information and the fact that a NATO structure in the intelligence area has been set up on Romanian soil says a lot about Romanian servicemen's experience and professionalism," National Defence Minister Mihai Fifor stated.

The centres of excellence are international military institutions, hosted by one of the NATO member states (framework nation), supported by other nations named sponsoring nations.

Following the experience gained in numerous missions conducted in theaters of war, Romania took on the status of framework nation for a centre of excellence focused on intelligence from human resources (HUMINT).

Therefore in March 2010, the NATO HUMINT Centre of Excellence in Oradea was opened, managing to become, with the help of sponsoring nations (the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the US, Turkey and Hungary), the main vector of important initiatives conducted within NATO in this specialised area.

The mission of the centre in Oradea is to provide an unique reference point in the area of expertise inside NATO, both in respect to training and developing standardised policies and procedures, and in supporting the Alliance in anticipating the developments of HUMINT capabilities.

The centre aims to become the main transformation agent of the Alliance in the specific expertise area by developing, promoting and implementing policies, concepts and new strategies, for improving the operational capabilities and, in the end, achieving its interoperability goals.

The centre has an exceptional endowment, modern classrooms, conference halls, accommodations, shooting ranges and training facilities tailored to various activities, MApN release mentions. AGERPRES (RO - author: Sorin Blada, editor: Nona Jalba; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Adina Panaitescu)