Romanian President Klaus Iohannis signed on Friday the decree regarding the retirement of the deputy director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), Lieutenant General with three stars, Cristian Bizadea, who effectively retires at the age of 48. He will leave his position starting June 1st.
His retirement comes in the context of a major scandal related to possible interventions of former SRI generals in the judiciary, an influence trafficking paid with hundreds of thousands of euros.
Furthermore, SRI has not had an official director for nearly a year, since July 2023, when former director Eduard Hellvig concluded his mandate after 8 years at the helm of the intelligence service.
Currently, the Service only has an interim director, General Răzvan Ionescu.
Asked in February why he has not appointed a new head of SRI, President Klaus Iohannis said that there is no need to worry because "SRI functions impeccably."
Who is Cristian Bizadea and what has he done
Cristian Bizadea is 48 years old and prior to his appointment as the deputy head of SRI, he was the chief of the SRI director's Cabinet, according to his biography cited by Agerpres.
Since joining SRI in 2001, he has held various positions in the General Directorate of Counterintelligence: deputy chief of the directorate, head of analysis, operations, and planning departments. In this capacity, he participated in operations carried out in cooperation with SRI's internal and external partners.
He is a university lecturer and has taught courses in information analysis and risk analysis at the University of Bucharest and at the National Intelligence Academy "Mihai Viteazul." He holds a Bachelor's degree in Law from "Lucian Blaga" University in Sibiu and a master's degree in communication and public relations obtained at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest.