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The character and legal position of Polish Special Services in the structure of the state
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Considering the issue of Polish Special Services legal position requires referring to many specific matters. It is essential to explain the definition of "special services" in the Polish legal system. Firstly, it is necessary to describe what state institutions belong to special services. The analysis of the Polish law shows that the term "special services" is used only in two legal acts. They are: The Law on Internal Security Agency (the ABW) and Intelligence Agency (the AW), passed on the 24th May 2002, and The Law on Military Information Services (the WSI), passed on the 9th July 2003. Other legislation either does not know the term "special services" at all, or it is used in the context of defining the co-operation with institutions that the special services apply to. In the regulations concerning the ABW and the AW the term "special services" is used in article 11 and the following, whereas the act on the WSI uses it in article 1.2. As a consequence of these regulations we can say about the strict list of the Polish Special Services which include only three state institutions: Internal Security Agency, Intelligence Agency and Military Information Services. Such direct pointing in article 11 makes the issue of the special services beyond doubts. Secondly, what seems to have decided of such an approach to the issue of the secret services is the range of tasks which these three institutions are supposed to perform. The objects of the interests of the special services are intelligence and counterintelligence actions. They are reserved only for the ABW, the AW and the WSI. They are not taken by other state organisations dealing with state security such as: Police, Border Guard, Government Protection Bureau and Military Police. The connection between intelligence, counterintelligence and the state security is so obvious that the special treatment of institutions taking this kind of actions should not be a surprise. It is also the first step towards indicating the place of the special services in that part of the legal system that is responsible for providing the state security. The character of these tasks causes more and more noticeable organisational isolation of the special services from the structure of the State. These services, on ground of legislation of 2002 and 2003, are still dependent of constitutional executive authorities. But the situation of the ABW and the AW has profoundly changed. Since 2002, these two institutions have been subordinated to the Prime Minister. They are led by the Chiefs of the ABW and the AW, who are directly subordinate to the Prime Minister. The WSI is supervised by the National Defence Minister, as it has been to date. What changed in 2002 is the fact that the positions of the ABW and the AW chiefs were established instead of the Minister Co-ordinator for Special Services. The rule is that these Services are led by the Chiefs who are not officers but civilians. That last change influences the character of the ABW and the AW as the civil special services. On the one hand, their tasks and activity have to be apolitical. On the other hand, the civil status of their chiefs gives an opportunity to fill these positions by members of political parties. Obviously, the fact that they are staffed by politicians does not have to mean that the Services are political. The transparency of the system is important. This regulation is open to doubt as far as the constitutional rule of the parliament is concerned. The point of this rule is the government's answerability to the Parliament. The government is a creation of a party or a coalition having a majority to support the government. Members of the government are also answerable to the Parliament individually. Consequently, the Parliament has the power to react up immediately to every minister's actions. However, the Parliament cannot apply that towards the Chiefs of the ABW and the AW because they are not members of the government formally, despite the fact that their factual status is basically not different from the position of any minister who is not in charge of a particular government department.
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