SECURITATE

noun (Politics) The internal security force (until December 1989) of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Etymology: A direct borrowing from Romanian securitate 'security'; this in turn is a colloquial abbreviation in Romanian of the official name, Departamentul pentru Securitatea Statului 'Department for State Security' (the Securitate was a Department of the Ministry of the Interior). History and Usage: Securitate was the colloquial name in Romanian of the feared Communist secret police under the Ceausescu regime (and before--the Departamentul pentru Securitatea Statului was set up in 1948). The word was only rarely used in English during the sixties and seventies; what really brought it into the news and gave it some currency in English was the overthrow of that regime in December 1989. News reports from Romania in late 1989 covered popular demonstrations against the Securitate and attempts to ransack its offices and destroy its files. The Securitate was officially disbanded in December 1989 and a National Salvation Front decree ratified this on 1 January 1990; in March 1990 a new security service was set up under the direct control of the President, and this was named Serviciul Romçn de Informatii 'Romanian Information Service'. This organization took over the duties of the Intelligence section of the old Securitate, but subject to formal guarantees that there would be no abuses of power such as those seen under the Securitate itself. The beliefs that they are constantly watched by the regime's political police, the Securitate, more than suffices to convince Rumanians to keep their thoughts to themselves. New York Times 24 Nov. 1989, section A, p. 17 The Ceausescus' execution weakened the resistance of the hated secret police, the Securitate, who had been mounting indiscriminate attacks on army units and civilians in an unsuccessful attempt to crush the revolution. The Annual Register 1989 (1990), p. 127