April 21, 2003

-April 24, 2003-

A strategic exercise involving a search for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), involving Romanian authorities, is scheduled to take place on Thursday, April 24, at 11:15 am at the US Embassy's GSO compound, Str Aurel Vlaicu #19, in Bucharest. The scenario is designed to focus on the integration of WMD-specific response procedures and crime scene evidence and investigative procedures. The purpose of this exercise is to present Romanian agencies with the opportunity to integrate WMD training they have received.

We ask press representatives to arrive at the GSO compound no later than 11:15 am. A representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Countering Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Directorate (DGCCOA), the Director of the exercise, and a US Embassy representative, will all give short interviews, followed by a photo shoot of the operations (lasting approximately 1 hour).

The United States Embassy, under the joint auspices of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Counterproliferation Program, is developing in Romania a project designed to strengthen Romanian law enforcement institutions in countering Weapons of Mass Destruction related crimes through assistance, including training and equipment. Similar programs are being developed in other east European, NIS, FYROM, and Baltic countries.

The program aims to enhance the ability of Romanian law enforcement agencies to deter, detect, investigate, and respond to WMD crimes, to assist in the development of an elite group of officers who are well qualified and equipped to effectively tackle these incidents, and to foster working-level relationships among participants from different agencies with responsibilities in this area.