The Security Information Service (BIS, ) is the primary domestic national

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

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Czech Republic's

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

, and conducting operations,

covert Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controver ...

and overt, both domestically and abroad. It also reports to and advises the

Government of the Czech Republic The Government of the Czech Republic () exercises executive power in the Czech Republic. The members of the government are the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (Chairman of the Government), the deputy prime minister and other ministers. It ...

on national security issues and situations that threaten the security of the nation. The BIS headquarters is located in Stodůlky,

Prague 5 Prague 5, formally the Prague 5 Municipal District (''Městská čast Praha 5''), is a Prague city districts, second-tier municipality in Prague. The administrative district (''správní obvod'') of the same name consists of municipal districts Pra ...

. The Security Information Service reports directly to the Government,

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and

President of the Czech Republic The president of the Czech Republic, constitutionally defined as the President of the Republic (), is the head of state of the Czech Republic and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The presidency has largely bee ...

and is overseen by the Permanent Commission of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

. It is under the command of the Government and organized militarily.

Command, control and organization

The BIS is a statutory body under the ''Act No. 154/1994 Coll., on the Security Information Service'' and it is strictly

apolitical Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased p ...

and has limited police powers; BIS can detain, arrest or interrogate suspects only as part of its internal oversight. The service reports to the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and

and its activities are regulated and overseen by the Government, Permanent Commission of the

and its own internal audit. The service is headed by the Director who is appointed by the

with consent of the Committee on Security of the Chamber of Deputies. The current director is , who has served since 15 August 2016, after being sworn in by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.

Duties

The Security Information Service performs duties associated with the analysis, democracy and constitutionality,

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

counter-intelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...

cybersecurity Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

, proliferation and use of strategically important intelligence regarding the fields of

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and intelligence within the territory of the Czech Republic.

2014 Vrbětice ammunition warehouse explosions

In 2014, two explosions occurred at ammunition depots in Vrbětice, Czech Republic—the first on October 16 and the second on December 3—resulting in two fatalities and extensive damage. Subsequent investigations by Czech authorities revealed that agents from Russia's GRU Unit 29155 were involved, allegedly aiming to disrupt weapons supplies to Ukraine. The cleanup of unexploded ordnance concluded in October 2020.

2025 events

In March 2025 revelation by Czech intelligence services of a covert Russian operation involving Belarusian journalist Natalia Sudliankova, identified as a key collaborator for Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. Active in the Czech Republic since 1999, Sudliankova allegedly published GRU-directed content, collaborated with pro-Kremlin organizations, and received crypto payments for espionage-related activities. Her expulsion, along with sanctions against her and GRU officer Alexey Shavrov, marked a major escalation in Czech efforts to counter Russian influence, highlighting the persistent threat of foreign intelligence operations in Europe.

References

External links

* * * *
BIS (Czech Counter-intelligence service) in transformation, 1994-2014
, Yu Cheng, European Intelligence Academy,

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

, July 2014

Notes

{{authority control Security Information Service, Czech Czech intelligence community 1994 establishments in the Czech Republic Government agencies established in 1994