The Carlos bombing of RFE(RL in Munich in February 1981 was considered a failure by the Romanian Intelligence Service and they planned another attack. Here are some details.
In September 1984, Constantin Constantinescu, a code clerk of the Romanian embassy in Bonn, defected to the West. To establish his bona fides, he presented a copy of a thirteen-page physical surveillance report of RFE/RL written by the Romanian foreign intelligence service (CIE) officer Ion Constantin sometime between October and December 1983. Constantinescu indicated that he could "save" a copy of this report from destruction as he saw its significance, and there was a breakdown in the normal destruction process.
Of extreme interest was the physical description of the wall of RFE/RL along the main street Oettingengtrasse and analysis of the working of the entrance and exit gates of RFE/RL. This report was not necessarily accurate in this regard. Nor was it regarding the location and use of the CCTV cameras on the building. One could conclude: the surveillance conducted at the front of the building was limited due to fear of detection. The summary of the debriefing also mentioned that the surveillance report contained references to "certain offices on the first floor." Presumably, these "certain offices on the first floor" referred to the Romanian Service of RFE/RL.
Constantinescu said he believed that the headquarters in Bucharest “was collecting information on the radio station to carry out intimidating acts against the personnel in the station’s Romanian section.” And he did not believe that there was interest “in having the facility seriously damaged.”
Also of interest in the debriefing summary was the mention of the headquarters group in Bucharest responsible for organizing "physical attacks on anti–Romanian personnel abroad" and the words "usually hires foreigners to carry out the operations themselves." Constantinescu lacked other knowledge of contemplated action against RFE/R; he had not seen any additional telex information or other written reports on RFE/RL or individual Romanian Service members of RFE/RL.
In December 1983, one or two days before leaving for temporary duty to Bucharest, Ion Constantin handed Constantinescu documents for destruction. Usually, both he and Constantin should have destroyed them together. But Constantin was in a hurry and left the material with Constantinescu to destroy. When Constantinescu saw the report on RFE/RL, he immediately realized the report's importance and retained it. He did not hear anyone besides Constantin discuss this topic at the Romanian missions in Cologne and Bonn.
Constantin's thirteen-page report and sketch, which the defector brought out, was a physical surveillance report on the RFE/RL, including:
• traffic in the area,
• traffic signs and parking,
• RFE/RL and the wall surrounding it,
• the different entrances and gates,
• certain offices on the first floor,
• the presence of specific security personnel and other installations in the immediate area.
Constantin concluded his report by noting that he had collected different city plans, tour books, and postcards. He attached them to the report as an appendix, which also contained twenty-four photos of RFE/RL and its immediate surroundings (Hilton Hotel, Bavarian Bank, Isar River, etc.). Constantin wrote in his report that he had walked through the entire area.
From discussions with Constantin, the defector learned about a group at CIE Headquarters, designated C-428, which dealt with such "diversionary" acts as physical attacks on anti–Romanian personnel abroad. C-428 depended on CIE residencies abroad to collect information in support of its plans but usually hired foreigners to carry out the operations themselves. Constantin had received instructions, presumably originally from C-428, to collect detailed information on the RFE/RL facility in Munich, referred to by the code name "Cobra." Constantinescu recalled that Constantin remarked: "They want to place bombs at the Radio Station."
Constantinescu learned that similar surveillance reports on the RFE/RL facility had also been submitted to C-428 by Constantin Ciobanu, the CIE resident, and Dan Mihoc, a CIE officer, both at the Romanian embassy in Bonn. In December 1983, while in Bucharest, Constantin was given two days of briefing by C-428 and was shown the reports from Ciobanu and Mihoc. Even though his report had been evaluated as "good," Constantin was asked to obtain additional information of interest (Constantin did not elaborate on this). In 1984, Constantin made two more trips to Munich, where he asked one of his collaborators to help him in this project.
In November 1984, the German government ordered the expulsion of the above-named “diplomats.” Media coverage was intense. For example, the German newspaper Die Welt’s detailed article on the expulsion contained this ominous reference to Dan Mihoc: “His superiors in Bucharest ordered Mihoc in January this year to buy a set of specialist medical works about poisons that autopsies could not trace, and he sent the volumes to the Romanian capital."
The Bavarian State Counterintelligence Agency’s Annual Report for 1984 contained this remark:
When an intelligence officer of the Romanian Embassy in Bonn defected to the West in 1984, important information was obtained on the activities of the Romanian Intelligence Service on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. The defector presented evidence of the preparation and the actual carrying out of criminal activities with a political background by the Intelligence Service, represented by officers of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service CIE who had diplomatic status with the Romanian Embassy in Bonn.
