Spies and their sophisticated devices. Regular people are fascinated by the myth of secret agents, but it is not often they happen to wonder about the price of special equipment. However, the battle for funds has always been one of the priorities of American secret services.
On the other hand, public debates on this topic tackled a delicate issue: should we give more money to the military and spies or should we grant heftier funds to health and education? After the September 11 attacks, Uncle Sam decided that the fight against terrorism was the number one priority.
Similar reactions occurred in Romania, also from the part of secret services, which are asking for more money. Nothing new here, because they have always asked for more money and there were times when they were even accused of illegal commerce.
However, no one (no secret services) had thought about opening a store so far.
The Romanian Intelligence (SRI) has recently made the first step and, using the logo of its autonomous regie, entered the Bucharest market with TV surveillance cameras, movement detection devices and house alarms (the most successful product so far).
No advertising was used for the “grand opening” of the little shop located on a commercial avenue downtown Bucharest. Sometimes an entire hour passes without any customers entering the shop.
Every now and then, some kid stops in front of the window and starts making faces, not at the shop assistants, but at the TV monitor where he can see himself. The same product is used by the ladies for an entirely different purpose: they stop to fix their hat or to check their make-up.
However, most passers-by fail to notice the shop. RASIROM is an autonomous regie, a strategic unit subordinated to SRI. It was established after 1990 and makes surveillance systems, software, telephonic and radio networks and even clothes and sanitary installations.
“We kept going to fairs and exhibitions, but we thought we should take a more offensive approach, so we opened this store in October,” says the head of the “mission,” ret colonel Doru Scarlatescu.
Some of the “goods” are for sale, while the others are for presentation only, but interested customers can contact the SRI officials.
The company offers a wide range of products, such as TV surveillance cameras, movement detectors, anti-burglary devices, smoke detectors and many sophisticated locks. House alarms are the best-selling items, followed by TV cameras and intercoms, the colonel states.
“People are concerned about burglars, only it is just like going to the doctor. They come after they have been robbed, not before, because you go to the dentist when you have a toothache, not before.”