UM 0215 (Military Unit 0215, colloquially known as ''Doi și-un sfert'', "Two and a quarter," or "Quarter past two") was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of inf ...

in the 1990s that was built upon the Bucharest branch of the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peop ...

Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...

. Its main purpose was to subvert the opposition, particularly during the

Golaniad The Golaniad ( ro, Golaniada , from the word ''golan'' meaning "hoodlum") was a protest in Romania in the University Square, Bucharest. It was initiated by students and professors at the University of Bucharest. The Golaniad started in April 199 ...

mass protests in Bucharest. The agency was also involved in the violent interventions against the protesters (the

Mineriad The mineriads ( ro, mineriade) were a series of protests and often violent altercations by Jiu Valley miners in Bucharest during the 1990s, particularly 1990–91. The term "mineriad" is also used to refer to the most significant and violent of ...

Creation

Created in February 1990 with President

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...

's approval, it was made up of Securitate officers who had been placed in reserve following the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

of 1989.

Activities

The agency received criticism from the media, as well as from Western governments and NGOs and journalists, for having ex-Securitate members and for its

modus operandi A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of o ...

. It collected information on politicians, journalists and trade union leaders, as well as Romanians abroad and foreigners in Romania. It was accused of being a

political police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

Dissolution

In 1998, it was disbanded and, following background checks from a governmental commission, some of its agents were taken over by the newly created criminal intelligence agency, Direcția Generală de Informații și Protecție Internă. Where UM 0215 had 1,440 staff members, the new agency had a sharply reduced 150 staff members. The proposal to disband it completely was not taken into consideration because some feared that the agents would join the

Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The ...

References

{{Reflist History of Romania (1989–present) Defunct Romanian intelligence agencies Ministry of Administration and Interior (Romania) 1990 establishments in Romania 1998 disestablishments in Romania Government agencies established in 1990 Government agencies disestablished in 1998