The Office of State Protection ( Polish: ''Urząd Ochrony Państwa'' (, UOP)''Słownik procedur parlamentarnych''
Kancelaria Sejmu, , p. 401) was the

intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of informa ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

from 1990 to 2002, when it was split into two new agencies.

Foundation

The UOP was founded on 6 April 1990 as a department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Krzysztof Kozłowski served as the UOP's first chief from 1990 to 1992. In 1996 UOP was transformed into a separate government agency under the supervision of the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. It was responsible for

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...

counter-intelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

and government electronic security, including

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

wiretaps.

Reasons for formation

The UOP replaced the communist-era

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

(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.

Agency split

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.

Chiefs

* Krzysztof Kozłowski (1990 – 1990) *

Andrzej Milczanowski Andrzej is the Polish form of the given name Andrew. Notable individuals with the given name Andrzej * Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), Polish film director and cinematographer * Andrzej Bobola, S.J. (1591–1657), Polish saint, missionary and ...

(1990 – 1992) *

Piotr Naimski Piotr Aleksander Naimski (born 2 February 1951) is a Polish politician and academic who is a Member of the Sejm. He previously served as the Deputy Minister of Economy and the Head of the Office for State Protection. Biography Piotr Naimski was ...

(1992) *

(1992) * Jerzy Konieczny (1992 – 1993) * Gromosław Czempiński (1993 – 1996) *

Andrzej Kapkowski Andrzej is the Polish form of the given name Andrew. Notable individuals with the given name Andrzej * Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), Polish film director and cinematographer * Andrzej Bobola, S.J. (1591–1657), Polish saint, missionary and ...

, p.o. szefa UOP (1996 – 1996) *

(1996 – 1997) *

Jerzy Nóżka Jerzy is the Polish version of the masculine given name George. The most common nickname for Jerzy is Jurek (), which may also be used as an official first name. Occasionally the nickname Jerzyk may be used, which means "swift" in Polish. Peopl ...

, p.o. szefa UOP (1997 – 1998) *

Zbigniew Nowek Zbigniew () is a Polish masculine given name, originally Zbygniew . This West Slavic name is derived from the Polish elements ''Zby-'' (from ''zbyć, zbyć się, or pozbyć się'', meaning "to dispel", "to get rid of") and ''gniew'', meaning "ang ...

(1998 – 2001) *

Zbigniew Siemiątkowski Zbigniew Siemiątkowski (born 8 October 1957 in Ciechanów, Poland) is a Polish politician and political scientist. He was Minister of Internal Affairs, 1996–97, and head of the Intelligence Agency (''Agencja Wywiadu'', or ''AW''), 2002 – A ...

, p.o. szefa UOP (2001 – 2002) * Andrzej Barcikowski (2002)

References

External links

Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego
homepage {{DEFAULTSORT:Urzad Ochrony Panstwa 1990 establishments in Poland 2002 disestablishments in Poland Defunct Polish intelligence agencies