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| Úřad pro zahraniční styky a informace | |
 Seal of ÚZSI | |
 | |
 Headquarters of ÚZSI[1] | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | January 1, 1993; 32 years ago (1993-01-01) |
| Preceding agency |
|
| Type | Intelligence agency |
| Jurisdiction | Government of the Czech Republic |
| Headquarters | Prague,Czech Republic 50°7.54592′N14°27.76793′E / 50.12576533°N 14.46279883°E /50.12576533; 14.46279883 |
| Motto | "Sine ira et studio" ("without anger and bias") |
| Employees | Unknown |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive | |
| Parent agency | Ministry of the Interior |
| Website | www.uzsi.cz |
TheOffice for Foreign Relations and Information (ÚZSI) (Czech:Úřad pro zahraniční styky a informace) is the mainforeign intelligence service of theCzech Republic responsible for the collection, analysis and dissemination ofintelligence. It is mandated to provide accurate and timely intelligence to theGovernment of the Czech Republic that is vital to support and protectforeign andeconomic policy interests.
The service also protects the country from terrorism, theproliferationof weapons of mass destruction, economic crimes, etc. Powers of the service are determined by the Act N.153/1994 Coll., the Intelligence Services of the Czech Republic Act which also lays out the structure of the organization. Officers of the service are mandated to act in accordance with the agency's code of ethics.[2]
The UZSI was located within the portfolio of the Czech Ministry of the Interior before the Act No. 153/1994 Coll. on intelligence services of the Czech Republic which made the service an independent institution. Before the Czech Republic became independent the agency was called the Office for Foreign Relations and Information of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. After the Czech independence, UZSI faced numerous challenges concerning the services development like developing a new framework of their activities, using new technologies and cooperation with foreign intelligence services.
Production had significantly increased after these improvements had been made. Today the intelligence agency is a major player on the international intelligence scene and represents theCzech intelligence community all over the world.[3]
UZSI is headed by aDirector-General who, on the government's consent, is appointed and dismissed by the Minister of the Interior. Czech's Interior minister is accountable to Government for the actions of UZSI. Directors in UZSI include:
The current director of UZSI isVladimír Posolda [cs]. He joined the CzechoslovakFederal Security Information Service [cs] in 1990, and worked for theSecurity Information Service (BIS) until 1998. Between 1998 and 2020, Posolda worked for UZSI, and was Deputy Director of Operations from 2019 until he left in 2021 due to disputes with then-directorMarek Šimandl [cs].[5][6]
Former directors of the agency include:[7]
According to Langley Pierce'sIntercepting Numbers Stations, ÚZSI once operated ashortwavenumbers station using the OLX callsign. The station ran under ÚZSI until 1996.[8]
| Domestic intelligence |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign intelligence | ||
| Military intelligence | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
