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Guard and Protection Service (SPP)

The Guard and Protection Service (SPP) was established on 07 May 1990 as the Special Guard and Protocol Unit, and is headed by Major General Dumitru Iliescu, who repeatedly denied rumours that he is related to President Iliescu. The service is a new version of the former Directorate V of the Department of State Security, which was in charge of Ceausescu's protection and was formally dismantled days after his overthrow, in December 1989. But SPP is a different entity which inherited neither the structures, nor the equipment of the old Securitate Department. The average age of its 1,500 or so members is 34, and most of the new staff have served in the army. The main task of the service is to ensure anti-terrorist protection for Romanian dignitaries and their foreign guests, and to guard their headquarters and residences. The SPP is an autonomous, military-administrative authority controlled by the parliament and coordinated by the Supreme Council for the Defence of the Country (CSAT).