Urząd Ochrony Państwa (ˈuʐɔnt ɔˈxrɔnɨ ˈpaɲstfa; Office for State Protection) or UOP was the intelligence agency

Intelligence agency

An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...

 of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. It was founded on April 6, 1990, as a department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1996 it was transformed into a separate government agency under the supervision of the Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

. It was responsible for intelligence

Intelligence

Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....

, counter-intelligence

Counter-intelligence

Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...

 and government electronic security, including telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

 wiretaps.

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

People's Republic of Poland

The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...

 Ministry of Internal Affairs - counter-intelligence, whose responsibilities had additionally included the suppression of opposition to the government prior to 1989.

In June 2002, the agency was split into two separate entities - Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego

Agencja Bezpieczenstwa Wewnetrznego

The Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego is the Polish government counterintelligence state agency tasked with the collecting of domestic intelligence etc. Foreign operations counterpart is Agencja Wywiadu.-See also:...

 (Internal Security Agency), which deals with internal security of the country, and Agencja Wywiadu

Agencja Wywiadu

Agencja Wywiadu or AW is a Polish intelligence agency, tasked with the gathering of public and secret information abroad for the Republic of Poland....

(Intelligence Agency), which deals with foreign intelligence.

External links

• Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego homepage