Detașamentul Special de Protecție și Intervenție

Detaşamentul de Intervenţie Rapidă (DIR, "The Rapid Intervention Detachment") of the Romanian Ministry of Defense is an elite special operations unit of the Romanian military.

During the early 1990s, a very small special operations (SOF) detachment was born within the Romanian military. It was incorporated in what was at that time the 30th Guard Brigade, or Brigada 30 Garda "Mihai Viteazul".

Referred to simply as "the special operations subunit", this small detachment was relatively unknown, even among armed forces personnel. In a few years, the unit was renamed Detaşamentul pentru Protecţia Demnitarilor Militari (DPDM, "Detachment for the Protection of Military Dignitaries"). DPDM continued to be part of the 30th Guard Brigade. In 1998, the same year when the top secret Grupul Anti-Terorist of the External Intelligence Service (SIE) was born, the DPDM was given its current name, Detasamentul de Interventie Rapida. In 2000, DIR was moved again, from the 30th Guard Brigade to the Military Police. This was followed 5 years later by the reduction of the 30th Guard Brigade and its transformation into a regiment. The number of DIR operatives continued to grow, and the detachment reached company-size soon (145 members in 2003).

DIR is a special unit inside the military, and is formed of highly skilled individuals. A very large percentage of its members (allegedly 50%) are world or Olympic champions in martial arts, kickboxing, athletic disciplines and so on. DIR was, until December 2003, top secret.

In December 2003, the military, which had kept the detachment secret for six years, unveiled it in a public show on television. DIR was presented as being a small detachment of carefully selected operatives used mainly to protect military VIPs in Romania, as well as foreign VIPs visiting the country. However, when interviewed by a reporter, a DIR operative stated that he had participated in several operations abroad, along with similar units from other NATO countries.

DIR operatives operate both in small 4- or 6-man teams and in larger teams, depending on the task to be performed. Although the detachment's main missions are VIP protection and anti-terrorist intervention, the unit is also capable of hostage rescue, airborne/seaborne assault and DA (Direct Action), which make it the Romanian equivalent of the British SAS or US Army's Delta Force unit.

DIR is one of the three structures composing the Special Operations Command (created in 2005), the others being PSY OPS and the Batalionul de Forţe Speciale (Special Forces Battalion).

Note

Detaşamentul de Intervenţie Rapidă is entirely distinct from the Detaşamentul de Poliţie pentru Intervenţie Rapidă (DPIR/SPIR/DIR) of the Police. They are entirely different units, whith radically different capabilities.