Even after eight years, the Ministry has failed to establish a functioning national system for the protection of soft targets. Activity only increased after the attack in 2023
PRESS RELEASE ON AUDIT NO 24/33 – 9 February 2026
Even after eight years, the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) has failed to create a functioning national system for the protection of soft targets, as envisaged in the Concept for the Protection of Soft Targets for 2017-2020. The MoI failed to fulfil its coordinating role and only fulfilled two of the four pillars on which the system was to be based. The MoI did not even develop a follow-up concept for the next period and, on the contrary, reduced its support for the protection of soft targets in 2021. It took a tragic attack on the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in December 2023 to prompt increased activity on the part of the MoI and other ministries. This was revealed by an audit by the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) focused on the protection of soft targets in 2021–2025, which followed up on an audit from 2021. In addition to the MoI, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), and the Ministry of Health (MoH) were also audited. Soft targets include, for example, schools, hospitals, shopping centres, and cultural events, i.e., places with a high concentration of people that are vulnerable to terrorist or violent attacks.
According to the SAO, the MoI failed to fulfil its coordinating role, particularly in the area of financing the protection of soft targets. After 2021, the MoI was supposed to evaluate the non-investment programme and, based on its results, determine the continuation of both investment and non-investment support. However, this did not happen – for example, a new investment programme that would include the purchase of security features and the modernisation of existing ones (e.g. camera systems) was not proposed. At the same time, owners and operators of soft targets repeatedly requested the establishment of a programme, as the financing of security measures is too costly for them and the lack of funds poses a significant risk to increasing resilience and preparedness. This conclusion was confirmed by the results of a survey conducted by the SAO*, which showed, among other things, that one in four primary and secondary schools had already experienced a security incident, most often in the form of a bomb threat.
The failure of the MoI to fulfil its coordinating role was also evident in the area of identifying the most vulnerable soft targets which should be prepared for a possible attack. Because the MoI did not develop a methodological procedure for identifying them, there is no current overview of these targets.
For three years and four months, no active consultative body existed to ensure systematic communication and to set the direction for the protection of soft targets in the Czech Republic. Until December 2021, this role was performed by the MoI's permanent advisory board. Its function was taken over by a new inter-ministerial working group established at the end of 2024, which convened for the first time in April 2025. The MoI's educational activities for security institution employees and the professional public did not take place in 2022 and 2023 and were only resumed in 2024, i.e., after the attack on Charles University's Faculty of Arts.
The MoI also failed to fulfil its task to begin issuing alerts to selected representatives of soft targets by 2020. In January 2022, the MoI stated that the task could not be fulfilled due to a lack of legislative support, specifically the absence of an obligation for owners and operators of soft targets to update their contact details. The Ministry then replaced the task with the use of a "unified warning and notification system," which is to be gradually transformed into a Cell Broadcast system scheduled to launch this year.
The activity of the audited ministries increased significantly after the attack on Charles University's Faculty of Arts. The MoI and other ministries proposed and, in some cases, implemented a number of measures to increase awareness and preparedness for a possible attack, including an active shooter attack. For example, the MoEYS, which had been financing its own programme of measures to strengthen school security since 2022, increased its subsidy from CZK 130 million by an additional CZK 200 million and issued Minimum Security Standards. According to a survey conducted by the SAO, 95% of primary and secondary schools are familiar with this standard. The MoH has, for example, ensured that hospitals' trauma and crisis plans have been updated. However, the SAO's audit showed that a number of measures are still in preparation and will not be implemented until the coming years.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office