Legal status and organizational structure
The National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (Consiliul Naţional pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securităţii – CNSAS) is an autonomous public authority, placed under the control of the Romanian Parliament, which administers the archives of the former communist secret police in Romania, the Securitate. CNSAS presents activity reports annually or by parliamentary request, subsequently posted on its website (www.cnsas.ro).
The institution is organized at a national level and it is fully financed from the state budget. Since the founding of CNSAS, the allotted budget has been periodically revised according to the current economic situation.
Consequently, the economic crisis has also affected our institution. In terms of personnel, one should mention that initially the organizational chart of CNSAS comprised 300 positions. Over the period 2008-2011, the number of positions was gradually reduced as follows: 254 in 2008; 250 in 2009; 239 in 2010; and reached 234 in the year 2011. After ten years, in 2021, organizational chart of CNSAS comprised 218 positions.
The activity of CNSAS is managed by a Board (the Collegium) composed of eleven members, nominated by the Romanian Parliament for a 6-year mandate, as follows: nine members are nominated by the parliamentary groups according to the political configuration of the Parliament, and two members, representing the civil society, are nominated by the President of Romania and the Prime Minister, based on consultations with civil society organizations. The members of the Collegium cannot be members of political parties throughout their mandate. Former employees or collaborators of the Securitate, as well as people who have been involved in criminal acts, are prohibited from working for CNSAS.
The CNSAS headquarters is located in Bucharest and the institution does not have any local subsidiaries. In terms of structure, CNSAS comprises the following Departments: Archive (a current archive located in the main building in downtown Bucharest and a general archive located outside Bucharest – Popești Leordeni); Investigation; Research, Exhibitions & Publications; Communication; Legal; Information Management; Economic Management and Human Resources.
The CNSAS employees are mainly young people who have no connections whatsoever to the structures of the former Securitate. In terms of education, the CNSAS employees are university graduates – Legal Studies, History, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Letters, Public Relations, Archival Studies, etc. – many of them holding MA or PhD degrees.