Urząd Ochrony Państwa

Urząd Ochrony Państwa (Polish pronunciation: [ˈuʐɔnt ɔˈxrɔnɨ ˈpaɲstfa]; Office for State Protection) or UOP was the intelligence agency of Poland. It was founded on April 6, 1990, as a department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1996 it was transformed into a separate government agency under the supervision of the Prime Minister. It was responsible for intelligence, counter-intelligence and government electronic security, including telephone wiretaps.

The UOP replaced the communist-era Służba Bezpieczeństwa (SB), I Departament People's Republic of Poland Ministry of Internal Affairs - intelligence, II Departament People's Republic of Poland Ministry of Internal Affairs - counter-intelligence, whose responsibilities had additionally included the suppression of opposition to the government prior to 1989.

In June 2002, the agency was split into two separate entities - Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego (Internal Security Agency), which deals with internal security of the country, and Agencja Wywiadu (Intelligence Agency), which deals with foreign intelligence.

See also

• Instruction UOP nr 0015/92

External links

• Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego homepage