| Agency Name: | Office for Foreign Relations and Information |
| Motto: | "Sine ira et studio" ("without anger and bias") |
| Nativename: | Úřad pro zahraniční styky a informace |
| Seal: | Logo ÚZSI.gif |
| Preceding1: | Office for Foreign Relations and Information of the Federal Ministry of the Interior |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of the Czech Republic |
| Employees: | Unknown |
| Minister1 Name: | Vít Rakušan |
| Minister1 Pfo: | Minister of the Interior |
| Chief1 Name: | Marek Šimandl |
| Chief1 Position: | Director General |
| Agency Type: | intelligence agency |
| Parent Agency: | Ministry of the Interior |
| Website: | www.uzsi.cz |
The Office for Foreign Relations and Information (ÚZSI) (Czech: Úřad pro zahraniční styky a informace) is the main foreign intelligence service of the Czech Republic responsible for the collection, analysis and dissemination of intelligence. It is mandated to provide accurate and timely intelligence to the Government of the Czech Republic that is vital to support and protect foreign and economic policy interests.
The service also protects the country from terrorism, the proliferation of 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.[1]
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 the Czech intelligence community all over the world.[2]
UZSI is headed by a Director-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 USZI is Marek Šimandl
Former directors of the agency include:
According to Langley Pierce's Intercepting Numbers Stations, ÚZSI once operated a shortwave numbers station using the OLX callsign. The station ran under ÚZSI until 1996.[5]