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The Security Information Service (BIS, Czech: Bezpečnostní informační služba) is the primary domestic national intelligence agency of the Czech Republic.[3] It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Czech Republic's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, both domestically and abroad. It also reports to and advises the Government of the Czech Republic on national security issues and situations that threaten the security of the nation.
| Bezpečnostní informační služba (BIS) | |
 Seal of the Security Information Service | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 30 July 1994 |
| Preceding agencies |
|
| Jurisdiction | Government of the Czech Republic |
| Headquarters | Prague, Czech Republic 50°3′16.51″N 14°20′11.98″E / 50.0545861°N 14.3366611°E |
| Motto | Audi, Vide, Tace (Hear, See, Be silent) |
| Employees | 1,000 (2019 estimate)[1] |
| Annual budget | $65 million (as of 2017)[2] |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Government of the Czech Republic |
| Website | www.bis.cz |
The BIS headquarters is located in Stodůlky, Prague 5. The Security Information Service reports directly to the Government, Prime Minister and President of the Czech Republic and is overseen by the Permanent Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.[a] It is under the command of the Government and organized militarily.
Command, control and organization
editThe BIS is a statutory body under the Act No. 154/1994 Coll., on the Security Information Service and it is strictly apolitical and has limited police powers; BIS can detain, arrest or interrogate suspects only as part of its internal oversight.[5] The service reports to the Government, Prime Minister and President of the Czech Republic and its activities are regulated and overseen by the Government, Permanent Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and its own internal audit.[6] The service is headed by the Director who is appointed by the Prime Minister with consent of the Committee on Security of the Chamber of Deputies.[7]
The current director is Michal Koudelka, who has served since 15 August 2016, after being sworn in by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.[8]
Duties
editThe Security Information Service performs duties associated with the analysis, democracy and constitutionality, terrorism, counter-intelligence, cybersecurity, organized crime, proliferation and use of strategically important intelligence regarding the fields of politics, economics and intelligence within the territory of the Czech Republic.[9]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Bělobrádek: BIS se daří odhalovat nebezpečí i nabírat lidi". ČTK (in Czech). Archived from the original on 2020-09-27. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ "Zákon o státním rozpočtu České republiky na rok 2017" (in Czech). Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ "What we do". BIS. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ^ "Permanent Commission on Oversight over the work of the Security Information Service". Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ "Inspection Department | BIS". www.bis.cz. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Audit and Oversight". BIS. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ "Věrná služba ředitele BIS" (in Czech). Respekt.cz. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ "Michal Koudelka becomes new head of counter-intelligence service". Czech Radio. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
- ^ "About us". BIS. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
External links
edit- Official website
- Official website (in Czech)
- Security Information Service at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
- "BIS (Czech Counter-intelligence service) in transformation, 1994-2014", Yu Cheng, European Intelligence Academy, Charles University in Prague, July 2014