Romanian interior minister meets with FBI head Kash Patel to talk joint teams

Romania’s interior minister, Cătălin Predoiu, met with Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in Washington on Tuesday, February 17. Talks between the two covered operational cooperation methods within joint MAI - IGPR - DGPI - FBI teams for the fight against international organized crime groups.

It is the second time that the two officials have met. Also attending the meeting were FBI deputy director Christopher Raia and assistant director for international operations Jason Kaplan.

The joint US-RO teams that were discussed are meant to tackle drug trafficking, combating illegal migration, human trafficking, cybercrime, and terrorism. Also agreed during the meeting was the development of joint professional training and specialization programs, with the support of the FBI Office in Bucharest and the FBI Academy in Quantico.

“The MAI cooperates with the FBI to protect citizens and communities in Romania and the United States from the most serious forms of international crime. We agreed with the FBI leadership to further develop this cooperation and discussed concrete ways to do so,” said Predoiu.

“The objective of the MAI is to increase the level of public safety in Romania. Cooperation with the FBI serves this objective, while also bringing added value to our colleagues and friends at the FBI in achieving their own objectives. Through these two meetings, the one in December and today’s, we have laid the foundations for this development and established directions for concrete action,” he added.

The first meeting between Cătălin Predoiu and Kash Patel took place in December 2025. At that time, the former emphasized the importance of activities carried out together with the FBI, with a focus on combating cross-border organized crime, particularly drug trafficking and cybercrime.

(Photo source: Catalin Predoiu on Facebook and FBI.gov)