theses supervised by Oprea were themselves affected by plagiarism. Oprea served in the Romanian Land Forces from 1983 to 1990, and in 1990 worked in the military law. In 2000, Oprea was made a knight of the Order of the Star of Romania, and the following year attained the same rank in the National Order for Faithful Service. He reached the rank of three-start lieutenant general in the reserves in 2008. In October 2009, President Traian Băsescu granted him the rank of four-star general, possibly in exchange for Oprea's support of Băsescu's bid for re-election. From 2000 to 2001, he was adjunct director of the National Defence University. From 2001 to 2002, he was a secretary of state at the National State Reserves Administration, and from 2002 to 2003, he was Prefect of Bucharest. Political beginnings and first cabinet post In 2003, Oprea joined the PSD, and aside from serving in the Năstase government, he became president of the party's Ilfov County branch in 2004 and of its defence policy department in 2006. He was also part of its national coordinating bureau in 2004–2005. At the 2004 election, he won a seat in the Chamber, where he served on the joint parliamentary committee providing oversight to the activities of Serviciul Român de Informaţii (SRI) and worked mainly on legislation affecting that agency. Re-elected in 2008, he was soon named to the Administration and Interior portfolio. At the time, his wealth drew some attention; in 2008, he had bank accounts worth over €1 million, three houses and two apartments in and around Bucharest, and a Mercedes-Benz. Oprea announced his priorities as minister to be security for citizens, in particular the maintenance of order in large cities; decentralisation combined with a strengthening of local institutions; and for Romania to join the Schengen Area by 2011. However, he quickly ran into political difficulties when a scandal erupted within the party regarding the state secretaries and departmental directors Oprea had named to posts within the ministry; particularly controversial was the appointment of Virgil Ardelean to head the General Directorate for Internal Information and Protection. Oprea was attacked by his rival for the ministerial post, Liviu Dragnea; by former President Ion Iliescu and his allies, whose own candidate Oprea had defeated; and eventually by party leader Mircea Geoană, who charged Oprea with acting unilaterally and outside party discipline by making the appointments without consulting him.