Office of State Protection

Office of State Protection
Urząd Ochrony Państwa; UOP
Agency overview
Formed	1990
Preceding agency	Służba Bezpieczeństwa;
Dissolved	2002
Superseding agencies	Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego; Agencja Wywiadu;
Jurisdiction	Poland
Headquarters	Warsaw
Agency executive	Andrzej Barcikowski;
Parent agency	Ministry of Interior

The Office of State Protection (Polish: Urząd Ochrony Państwa (Polish pronunciation: [ˈuʐɔnt ɔˈxrɔnɨ ˈpaɲstfa], UOP)^[1]) was the intelligence agency of Poland 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.^[2] In 1996 UOP 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.

Reasons for formation

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.

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 (1990 – 1992)
Piotr Naimski (1992)
Andrzej Milczanowski (1992)
Jerzy Konieczny (1992 – 1993)
Gromosław Czempiński (1993 – 1996)
Andrzej Kapkowski, p.o. szefa UOP (1996 – 1996)
Andrzej Kapkowski (1996 – 1997)
Jerzy Nóżka, p.o. szefa UOP (1997 – 1998)
Zbigniew Nowek (1998 – 2001)
Zbigniew Siemiątkowski, p.o. szefa UOP (2001 – 2002)
Andrzej Barcikowski (2002)

References

^ Słownik procedur parlamentarnych, Kancelaria Sejmu, ISBN 83-909381-0-3, p. 401
^ "Krzysztof Kozłowski nie żyje. Rozwiązał służbę bezpieczeństwa, milicję zmienił w policję". Gazeta Wyborcza. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2013-04-01.

External links

Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego homepage

[1] Słownik procedur parlamentarnych, Kancelaria Sejmu, ISBN 83-909381-0-3, p. 401

[gw-2] "Krzysztof Kozłowski nie żyje. Rozwiązał służbę bezpieczeństwa, milicję zmienił w policję". Gazeta Wyborcza. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2013-04-01.

[1]

[2]