Most deputies who are members of the Permanent Commission on Oversight over
the Security Information Service (BIS), the country's civilian
counterintelligence agency, believe it is doing good work. The information
is the result of a Czech News Agency survey conducted on the occasion of
the 25th anniversary of the Intelligence Services Act which defined their
tasks and control mechanisms.
The deputy-head of the commission Robert Králíček from the ANO party
said that it is also thanks to the good work of BIS that the country is one
of the safest in the world. Another committee member, Marek Benda from the
Civic Democrats, praised the service's intelligence liaison
capabilities, as well as its work on countering terrorist and cyber
threats. He did say however, that in the area of economic threats he felt
the service relied too much on rumours.
Some opposition members of the committee highlighted their worries over the
service in view of pressure from President Miloš Zeman, who expressed
himself unfavourably about its work in 2018, while Radek Rozvoral from the
Freedom and Direct Democracy party said that Czech intelligence services
were doing good work but should be more careful with some of the statements
they release publicly.