Following the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and the fall of the Nicolae Ceaușescu communist regime, Talpeș relinquished his position at Editura Militară, and served President Iliescu as an advisor from July 1990 to April 1992.
When Iliescu was again elected President of Romania in December 2000, he appointed Talpeș head of the National Security Department and chief of the Presidential Administration.
Talpeș was elected to the Parliament of Romania in December 2004, where he continues to serve as a Senator representing his home county of Caraș-Severin.
Ioan Talpeș is particular mentioned in the report of the investigator of the Council of Europe to illegal activities of the U.S. secret service CIA in Europe, Dick Marty, as one of the persons, who authorized or at least knew about and have to stand accountable for torture prisons on the Mihail Kogălniceanu military base from 2003 to 2005.
Talpeș stated he never visited the building and explicitly told his CIA counterpart that the Romanians did not want to know what was taking place inside.