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Urząd Ochrony Państwa (Polish pronunciation: [ˈuʐɔnt ɔˈxrɔnɨ ˈpaɲstfa]; Office of State Protection[1]) or UOP was the intelligence agency of Poland from 1990 to 2002, when it was split into two new agencies.
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.
