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28.05.2005
Part VII: Polish Intelligence in 1989-2005
Activity of the Polish intelligence for the sake of the allies
Most of the foreign operations carried out by Polish intelligence during the post-Communist period coincide with the interests of its new western allies. The first example of successful Polish-American cooperation in the field of intelligence was the operation of the evacuation of six American agents from Iraq to Turkey carried out in the summer of 1990 under the direction of General Gromoslaw Czempinski, who subsequently became chief of the UOP. Czempinski`s agents, working under cover as Polish building workers, managed to extract the Americans from the Iraqi capital.
In the middle of the nineties WSI started to cooperate with the American Agency of National Security (NSA). The level of cooperation was upgraded considerably after the introduction of Poland into NATO in 1999. A powerful radar-tracking complex with a reach of 1000 km was built with American assistance on the eastern border of the country. It was directed mainly at Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
Another facet of the cooperation constitutes the work of the Polish military intelligence (WSI) representatives in the structure of the Polish military contingent in Iraq. There, Polish military agents interact closely with their American and British colleagues in the carrying out of counter-terrorist operations.
Besides NATO membership, the Polish special services have also taken operative benefit from the introduction of the country into the European Union in 2004. According to the Union's convention on intelligence activity, Polish intelligence acquired the right to operate in all 24 countries of the EU, after notifying the local authorities.
In April 2004 this cooperation was a bit troubled by a scandal caused by the intervention of Polish military intelligence into the political life of the country (see the fifth part of the article). The western partners reacted with the suspension of an exchange of important intelligence information, fearing its leakage or its use for internal political purposes. However, after Marek Belka`s coming to power and the beginning of personnel changes in the Polish intelligence leadership (see the fourth part of the article), the partnership with the West was fully restored, and in some areas even expanded.
Spheres of Interest
Two Polish intelligence bodies, AW (Foreign Intelligence) and WSI (Military Intelligence) presently conduct work in the territory of the CIS, mainly in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The Federal Security service of Russia (FSB) claims that Polish intelligence has a wide Humint sources network in the territory of the Russian Federation. Preference in recruitment is given to persons visiting Poland on a regular basis. In the case of Russian citizens we are talking mainly about businessmen, scientists and students; in Ukraine - members of the local Polish community, and in Belarus - activists of the local opposition.
Polish citizens gathering information in the CIS are mainly businessmen, scientists, students, journalists and Catholic religious figures. In this connection it is necessary to note that the position of the Polish special services in clerical circles always was very strong. The church was traditionally perceived by SB officers, and is so perceived today by their successors, as a unique organization, which, due to a branched structure is capable of collecting the most trustworthy information about the moods of the population and also rendering direct influence on them, especially as Catholicism actually constitutes the major part of the Polish national ethos .
Therefore, Roman Catholic priest involvement in serving the interests of the native population can be carried out even without the procedure of recruitment.
Gathering of information by Polish agencies is conducted from open sources, and from classified ones. The process of gathering data occurs over a huge area - from Kaliningrad up to Kamchatka. Poles are interested in practically everything: the nuclear industry, the Russian banking system, military technologies and power infrastructures, and bodies of national security, including the Russian intelligence community. The more significant part of the collected information is transferred to their partners in NATO and the European Union. In this connection it is also necessary to note the fine partnership relations, which the Polish special services and their colleagues from the Baltics have developed.
Failures of the Polish intelligence services in the CIS countries
The prestige of the Polish special services among their western colleagues has grown steadily over the last few years. The low number of failures is proof of their high professionalism. Nevertheless, it is necessary to mention some, and most significant, flops. For example, two Polish priests of the Catholic Church were expelled from the Ivano-Frankovsk area of Ukraine in November 1995, having been suspected by the local SBU of spying. And in April 2004 the military and air force attache of the Polish embassy, Colonel Kazimierz Witaszek, was expelled from the capital of Belarus, Minsk. This WSI officer was detained by the Belarus KGB, caught "red handed" – with confidential materials from an officer of the Belarus Ministry of Defense, whom he recruited. It was the biggest failure of Polish intelligence in the post-Communist period. In Russia and other CIS countries nothing similar had occurred.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
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