Urząd Ochrony Państwa ([ˈuʐɔnt ɔˈxrɔnɨ ˈpaɲstfa]; Office for State Protection) or UOP was the intelligence agency of Poland.
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Foundation
The UOP was founded on April 6, 1990, as a department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Krzysztof Kozłowski served as the UOP's first chief from 1990 to 1992. 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.