The history of our concerns traces back to 2006, when CADI organized a debate about the issue of national security with a focus on individual liberty; the context was the country’s new membership of NATO. That was the first round table on the security strategy in Romania to have an NGO as a participant.

Two years later we revisited the subject focusing on the implications of the “war on terrorism” for individual security and civil liberties. With the help of the German Marshal Fund we made the first steps for a Romanian civil society coalition able to rethink the security system, rewrite the security laws and publicly support these issues.

The end of 2008 brought a context of international protests against Government surveillance, a reaction against the European Data Retention Directive. It was a good tide. In January 2009 we published a special issue of Magazine 22 dedicated to the topic, authored by civil society actors, academics, as well as decision makers. We then organized a series of conferences attracting momentuous media coverage. We put together interested parties, reuniting at the same table the heads of the two Romanian secret services (SRI and SIE), prominent members of mainstream civil society, and people with poignant libertarian views.