President Iohannis picks Gabriel Vlase for Romania counterintelligence chief

President Klaus Iohannis has sent a letter to the chairs of Parliament recommending Gabriel Vlase for director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE), according to the Presidential Administration. 

"On Thursday, June 14, President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, sent a letter to the chairs of the two chambers of Parliament under Article 65 (2) ( h) of the Constitution of Romania, recommending that Mr Petru-Gabriel Vlase be appointed director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE)," the Presidential Administration says in a press release. 

Vlase is deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, a member on the National Defence and Public Order Committee and member on the Joint Special Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate on the analysis and updating of the national security normative framework. 

He is a graduate of the National Defence College, the National Defence University, the National Security College, the National Intelligence Academy, holding a doctor's degree in Military Sciences and Intelligence from the National Intelligence Academy. 

Former SIE Director Mihai Razvan Ungureanu resigned in September 2016.