Facts

Facts about the Czech Republic

Politics

Czech Security Information Service

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The mission of the (BIS), which was created as a state intelligence agency of the Czech Republic, is to protect national interests, democracy and freedom and to defend individual citizens and the state vis-a-vis the most serious forms of crime.

photo: mojefoto.cz

Unlike the police, who enter the scene when a criminal offense is perpetrated, seek to find the facts and apprehend the culprit, BIS identifies, describes and assesses the threats and dangers in the areas within its purview as defined by law. In this preventive role its activities and existence are irreplaceable.

This involves not only defense against potential threats to the foundations of the democratic system and the sovereignty of the Czech Republic alone. In collaboration with other intelligence agencies of the state and partner services of all democratic countries, BIS fulfills the task of anticipating, blunting and eliminating threats that jeopardize the entire human civilization.

The global anti-civilization threats include

international terrorism and organized crime,
particularly the spread of technologies and components for the production of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons,
transfers of classical weapons to neuralgic places in different parts of the world,
attempts of organized crime to inflitrate the government, economic and political structures of states.

In all its activities BIS respects and strictly adheres to the unchallengeable principles of its work:

It observes human rights, and if it is compelled to infringe upon them, it does so solely in keeping with rules set by law.
It is non-partisan, its internal structure is clearly organized, and observance of human rights in the execution of intelligence work is overseen by a special parliamentary body.
The BIS must not have any repressive powers - contrary to the secret services of totalitarian states, it is not for instance allowed to arrest, interrogate and bring charges against people - and it must not collect information beyond the frame of a defined task.

The creed of the BIS is to serve national interests and protect society from serious threats. It accepts this commitment in the spirit of loyalty to democratic values, the Constitution and other legislation, while preserving human dignity and integrity, respecting and observing laws to the maximum possible degree.