Agencja Wywiadu

Foreign Intelligence Agency

Agency overview
Formed	29 June 2002
Preceding agency	Urząd Ochrony Państwa
Jurisdiction	Government of Poland
Headquarters	Warsaw
Ministers responsible	Beata Szydło, Prime Minister Mariusz Kamiński, Minister - Coordinator of Special Forces
Agency executives	Col Grzegorz Małecki, Head Piotr Krawczyk, Deputy Head
Website	http://www.aw.gov.pl/eng/index.html

Agencja Wywiadu (Polish pronunciation: [aˈɡɛnt͡sja vɨˈvʲadu]; Foreign Intelligence Agency) or AW is a Polish intelligence agency, tasked with the gathering of public and secret information abroad for the Republic of Poland.

It was created in 2002 from the reform and split of Urząd Ochrony Państwa, which was split into Agencja Wywiadu (AW) and Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego (ABW).

The current Head of the Foreign Intelligence Agency is Colonel Grzegorz Małecki.

Roles

The Intelligence Agency usually operates out of the territory of the Republic of Poland. Its activity within the territory of the Republic of Poland may be conducted only within a limited scope, exclusively in connection with its activity out of the state's frontiers. The roles of the Foreign Intelligence Agency include:

• Obtaining, analyzing, processing and forwarding information that may be significant to the security and international position of the Republic of Poland, as well as to its economic potential;
• Recognizing and counteracting external threats to the security, defense, independence and inviolability of the Republic of Poland;
• Protecting foreign diplomatic missions of the Republic of Poland and their officials from the activities of foreign intelligence services and other activities negatively that may affect the interests of the Republic of Poland;
• Ensuring protection of cryptographic communication with the Polish diplomatic missions and consulates, and of diplomatic pouch;
• Recognizing international terrorism, extremism and international organized crime groups;
• Recognizing international trade in weapons, ammunition and explosive materials, narcotics, psychotropic substances, as well as in goods, technologies and services of strategic importance to the state's security, recognizing international trade in weapons of mass destruction and threats related to the proliferation of those weapons and their carriers;
• Recognizing and analyzing threats occurring in the regions of tensions, conflicts and international crises that influence exert on the state's security, as well as actions undertaking aimed at eliminating those threats;
• Conducting signals intelligence;

Structure

The Foreign Intelligence Agency comprises the following organizational units:

1. Bureau I
2. Bureau II
3. Bureau III
4. Bureau IV
5. Bureau V
6. Bureau VI
7. Bureau VII
8. Bureau VIII
9. Staff Training Centre
10. Independent Legal Unit

However, the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Agency is authorized to form or appoint units of a permanent or ad hoc character (e.g. task units).

Current management

• Head of the Foreign Intelligence Agency: Colonel Grzegorz Małecki
• Deputy Head of the Foreign Intelligence Agency: Piotr Krawczyk

See also

• History of Polish Intelligence Services

External links

• Official website