Saturday evening during the "Q & A" show, Alessandra Stoicescu presented her viewers how the former Securitate guided Basescu’s career steps.
Here is what historian Marius Oprea has to say about the true face of Traian Băsescu:
“In 1981 Traian Băsescu was promoted ship commander at the end of an examination that his colleagues said only lasted 5 minutes: not necessarily due to his capacity or surrounding circumstances alone of which we talked about, but due to the support received from the Securitate which the young officer was said to enjoy.
He had connections and he was one of those who had no problem with the renewal of their sailor’s license, the permit allowing exit into the international waters, basically granted by the Securitate to every sailor. (...) In June 1984, Traian Băsescu was praised by the party press daily Scînteia under the title “Four decades of revolutionary achievements. The Constanta Harbor and its people”, being mentioned among the commanders “whose fame is recognized by the blue vastness of the seas and oceans of the world. "(...) During the time he served as commander of the flagship oil fleet of the socialist Romania, his “working” relationships with the Securitate intensified. Quite familiar with the recognized communist officials, Traian Băsescu, had overcome, we believe, once he embarked the Biruinta ship, the status of mere collaborator of the Securitate, which he was said to have enjoyed during his marine student years, when he had been recruited. As of August 15,1979, as he probably knew, his collaborator dossier no longer existed. He now enjoyed a different statute. He was no longer a docile and fearful tool of the regime, but rather part of it. It is very likely that his promotion to a new statute would have occurred after the triumphant return of the Arges ship from her quite adventurous trip, which could have ended in a financial disaster, but also a human tragedy, for the Romanian fleet. Definitely, in his new capacity of commander of the Biruinta ship, he enjoyed full honors. The local party press, the Doborgea daily of 7 March 1985,dedicated a full article entitled: “A sailor’ portrait: The right man in the right place”. “Just a few months before turning 33, Traian Băsescu was granted command of the flag ship belonging to the Enterprise of the Maritime Fleet operations NAVROM, namely the giant oil tanker Biruinţa» of 150.000 tdw, which had just been built. The true pride and joy of the Romanian ship builders, «Biruinţa» is in fact an exceptional technical accomplishment. We can only figure out that the option of the commercial fleet management to grant the command of such a ship to an officer entrusted the duty and responsibility to command the Biruinta oil tanker was not done by chance. Nor was by chance the fact that for two consecutive years, Traian Băsescu takes first place in the professional competition «the most efficient and well cared ship ».”