The transformation of civil secret service in Poland in 1989-1990
In all authoritarian systems (including previous Eastern Bloc) secret service was a key tool to maintain their grip on power. In military regime countries, secret service underwent direct military control. In communist systems, intelligence and counterintelligence was a mixture of military and civil services. The restitution of an appropriate role of secret service was one of the priority tasks which the authorities of the countries that chose a democratic way in 1989 had to complete. Among those countries was Poland, which was one of the countries where, it has to be admitted, the reform of civil secret service took place relatively late, while compared to political changes. That is why the main aim for this research paper is to present the reasons for such a situation, as well as the circumstances, which accompanied forming new services, that is the Office of State Protection.
Foreword (by Wojciech Polak) / 9
Introduction / 13
Security service in Polish People’s Republic (PRL) / 21
Security service in the structures of the authorities of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) / 21
Central and local units of security service in 1970–1980 / 31
Security service in 1980–1988 / 45
Implosion of the system / 52
About the act concerning the Office of State Protection (UOP) / 83
Projects and their assumptions / 83
Parliamentary debate / 91
An argument in the Senate / 103
The implementation of statutory assumptions / 109
Verification and personnel / 109
The structure / 127
Delegations / 149
Conclusion / 156
Bibliography / 163
List of abbreviations / 171
Index / 175