Security Information Service

Security Information Service
Bezpečnostní informační služba
(BIS)
Agency overview
Formed 30 July 1994
Preceding agencies
  • Security Information Service of the Czech Republic (1992)
  • (Czechoslovak) Federal Security Information Service
Jurisdiction Government of the Czech Republic
Headquarters Prague, Czech Republic
Annual budget $49,584,953 USD (2005)[1][2]
Agency executive
  • Michal Koudelka, Director
Parent agency none
Website www.bis.cz
BIS headquarters is located in Prague.

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.

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 Special Review Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.

Command, control and organization

The BIS is strictly apolitical and has no police powers - it cannot detain, arrest or interrogate suspects. The BIS reports to the Government, Prime Minister and President of the Czech Republic and its activities are regulated and controlled by the Government, Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and its own internal audit.[4] 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.[5]

The current Director is Michal Koudelka, serving since 15 August 2016, after being sworn into the office by the Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.[6]

Duties

The 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.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Chris Hippner, "A Study Into the Size of the World’s Intelligence Industry" (Master's Thesis, December 2009), 90, http://issuu.com/not_sure/docs/intelligence-spending.
  2. ↑ Security Information Service [BIS], Annual Report of the Security Information Service (BIS) for 2005, http://www.bis.cz/_english/vz2005/vz2005-9.html [accessed May 5, 2009].
  3. ↑ "What we do". BIS. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "Audit and Oversight". BIS. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  5. ↑ "Věrná služba ředitele BIS" (in Czech). Respekt.cz. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "Michal Koudelka becomes new head of counter-intelligence service". Czech Radio. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "About us". BIS. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
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