Ion Mihai Pacepa
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Ion Mihai Pacepa (born 28 October 1928) is the highest ranking secret-service officer ever to have defected from the former Eastern Bloc. Pacepa is the former acting chief of Communist Romania's espionage service. A very controversial character, he seems to have been involved in military plans and plots in states from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
He began studying Industrial Chemistry, but dropped out to become an officer of the Securitate. Between 1956 and 1964, he served as a spy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Between 1966 and 1978 he held various jobs in the leadership of the Romanian secret service.
During the communist period of Romania, Pacepa was the contact person between the communist president Nicolae Ceauşescu and Yasser Arafat. Links between Ion Mihai Pacepa and the "underworld" of politics go as far as connecting Pacepa with the international terrorist Carlos the Jackal.
He defected in 1979, by walking into the U.S. Embassy in Bonn after he sent a message to chancellor Helmut Schmidt, and was flown secretly to the United States, president Jimmy Carter personally approving his asylum request.
After his defection, the Communist government of Romania put a $2 million bounty on his head and he was condemned to death sentence. Two teams of assassins were sent by the Romanian govenment to find him, but they never succeded.
In 1987 he published Red Horizons: Chronicles of a Communist Spy Chief (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0895265702/qid=1117014910/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-2569721-5764802?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) (ISBN 0895265702), reprinted in 24 countries. In 1999 Pacepa authored The Black Book of the Securitate, reportedly an all time bestseller in Romania.
He occasionally writes articles for American Conservative magazine National Review and for Washington Times.
References
- "Pensia lui Pacepa a fost umflata cu pixul" (http://www.cotidianul.ro/index.php?a=6560&shift=1), Cotidianul.
- 2nd Book: Red Horizons : The True Story of Nicolae and Elena Ceasesus' Crimes, Lifestyle, and Corruption (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0895267462/qid=1117014910/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-2569721-5764802?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)he:יון מיחאי פצ'פה