Update: 15/04/2024 18:42
Issued by: 15/04/2024, 14:39
Washington – Prime Minister Petr Fiala discussed the security situation in the world today at the headquarters of the American Central Intelligence Service (CIA) with its director William Burns. The heads of all three Czech secret services also took part in the meeting that started Fial’s visit to the USA. According to Fiala, the invitation is a sign of high confidence and appreciation of cooperation between the intelligence services. The Prime Minister is in the United States on a two-day visit, the main point of which will be today’s meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House.
“It was a very successfully spent morning,” said Fiala about the meeting with Burns and his colleagues, which was attended by the national security advisor Tomáš Pojar in addition to the heads of the Czech secret services. “The invitation and the debate showed a high degree of trust on the part of the US. It is also an appreciation of cooperation in the field of security and between the intelligence services, which has been going on for a long time,” added the Czech Prime Minister.
During his visit to the USA five years ago, the then Prime Minister Andrej Babiš visited the headquarters of the US Secret Service in Langley. According to diplomats, Babiš was probably the first high-ranking representative of the Czech Republic to be invited to the CIA headquarters and negotiate with its leadership.
Five years ago, the head of the Security Information Service (BIS) Michal Koudelka was part of the Czech delegation. He then received the George Tenet Award, which is the highest award for foreign cooperation. Czech counterintelligence director Koudelka told ČTK in 2019 that this is the most prestigious award that the intelligence service can receive in cooperation with the United States.
This time the heads of all three Czech secret services were invited. Koudelka has headed the BIS since 2016. Two years earlier, Jan Beroun took over the leadership of Military Intelligence, and the intelligence, that is, the Office for Foreign Relations and Information (ÚZSI), has been headed by Vladimír Posolda since October 2022.
The BIS said in its latest annual report for 2022 that it is authorized to work with more than a hundred intelligence services from around the world, subject to government approval. The main areas of cooperation are the fight against terrorism, counter-espionage, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cyber security and the protection of classified information.
