| Agency Name: | Constitution Protection Bureau |
| Native Name: | Satversmes aizsardzības birojs |
| Agency Type: | Intelligence bureau |
| Formed: | 1995 |
| Jurisdiction: | Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia |
| Headquarters: | Miera iela 85A, Riga |
| Chief1 Name: | Egils Zviedris |
| Chief1 Position: | Director |
The Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) is a Latvian state security institution. It conducts intelligence and counterintelligence activities, ensures the protection of state secrets, as well as classified information of the European Union and NATO.[1] The Bureau operates under the supervision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia.
The Bureau ensures the operation of mobile phone conversation control equipment. Latvian state security and law enforcement agencies, authorized by law, conduct mobile phone conversation control using this equipment. Captured data is automatically transmitted to the respective authority, which initiates the interception of telephone conversations.[2]
The Constitution Protection Bureau was established in 1995 based on the Law on the Constitution Protection Bureau adopted by the Saeima.[3] It is named after the constitution of Latvia - the Satversme.
Since November 6, 1995, the Bureau has overseen the Centre for the Documentation of the Consequences of Totalitarianism (CDCT,, TSDC), which was established by the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia on April 16, 1992, and initially operated as a structural unit of the Ministry of Justice.[4]
In 2003, the Latvian National Security Authority (NSA, or NDI) was established as one of the substructures of the Bureau.[5] Its establishment was a mandatory requirement for Latvia's accession to NATO and the European Union (EU). The last inspection by the General Secretariat Security Bureau of the EU in 2012 and the NATO Security Bureau in 2015 acknowledged that the Bureau and the NSA complied with all specified security requirements and would continue to be entitled to receive classified information.
On October 26, 2004, the Cabinet of Ministers approved Regulation No. 887 "List of State Secrets Objects," indicating military, political, economic, scientific, technical, or other information, the loss or unlawful disclosure of which may harm the national security, economic, or political interests of the state. In the field of state secret protection, the Bureau carries out checks on individuals to issue or extend special permits for access to state secret objects (special permits), as well as checks and accredits premises used for work with classified information.[6]