General Jarosław Stróżyk has taken charge of the Military Counterintelligence Service, and Colonel Dorota Kawecka has assumed leadership of the Military Intelligence Service, according to Cezary Tomczyk, deputy head of the Ministry of National Defense, on Tuesday.
“I sincerely congratulate them. This marks an important moment in the history and the ongoing operations of the Polish state — a moment when the state possesses eyes and ears and can rely on its services”, Tomczyk said. “The service chiefs are now undergoing the proper procedures and are stepping into their roles.”
On December 13, the parliamentary committee on secret services issued a favorable opinion on Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s request to dismiss the heads of the Internal Security Agency, AW, CBA, SKW, and SWW.
The MPs gave a positive nod to motions received before the committee meeting to appoint the new heads of the intelligence services: Col. Bartosz Jarmuszkiewicz to the Internal Security Service, Col. Krzysztof Wacławek to the Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Marek Łapiński to the Military Counterintelligence Service, Brigadier General Maciej Szpanowski to the Army, and Andrzej Stróżny to lead the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Macierewicz has been deprived of protection
The Smolensk subcommittee episode has ended without Antoni Macierewicz receiving protection. There will be a team at the Ministry of National Defense that will examine the subcommittee’s activities, but the deputy head of the ministry, Cezary Tomczyk, warned that the overall picture is alarming.
During a press briefing, Tomczyk addressed the dissolution of the Ministry of National Defense’s subcommittee tasked with re-investigating the Smolensk Tu-154 crash known as the Smolensk Subcommittee.
By order of the head of the Ministry of National Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, dated December 15, the subcommittee exploring the Smolensk disaster was dissolved. Members were instructed to finalize all documentation, property, and equipment related to the subcommittee’s work by December 18.
Tomczyk confirmed that subcommittee members had moved to a new building on Kolska Street in Warsaw, a location secured and sealed by the Ministry of National Defense.
Kosiniak-Kamysz’s decision was implemented, and the commission would recover the equipment and materials as a separate task, to be determined by a dedicated team.
He noted that the Ministry was coordinating with military aviation to establish proper procedures for transferring the documentation to the subcommittee.
“The end of this costly farce” is near, Tomczyk asserted. He described the episode as tied to Antoni Macierewicz’s leadership of the subcommittee, acting on behalf of the Polish state, and declared that this chapter has reached its close.
Tomczyk added that the minister of national defense had decided to withdraw Antoni Macierewicz from protection by the Military Police and to end the gendarmerie protection and the company car arrangement as well.
He noted that such resources had been available to Macierewicz since he left the post of head of the Department of National Defense in 2018.
Tomczyk emphasized that a dedicated team from the Ministry of National Defense would soon begin a formal review of the entire activity of the Smolensk subcommittee, assessing facts, formalities, and legal aspects. He explained that the term “pathological” was used to describe the subcommittee after reviewing the material, stating that the portrayal was truly troubling.
“I don’t use that word lightly. After reading the subcommittee materials for several days, the picture is frightening”, he said. He added that the subcommittee appeared to be set up to “fabricate and prove a lie.”
He announced that the team would be named in the coming days and expressed a wish for transparent work, a thorough process, and a final report made public.
“The relevant departments of the Ministry of National Defense have already begun collecting documents related to the Smolensk Subcommittee”, Tomczyk stated. “Serious conclusions must be drawn for the Polish state from this history.”
On April 10, 2010, the Tu-154M crash near Smolensk claimed 96 lives, including President Lech Kaczyński and his wife, as the Polish delegation traveled to commemorate the Katyn massacre. In 2010-2011, the State Aviation Accident Investigation Commission, led by Jerzy Miller, then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, concluded in a July 2011 report that the disaster resulted from a descent below the minimum altitude, causing the aircraft to strike trees and eventually suffer structural failure. The commission found no evidence of an on-board explosion based on audio recordings and flight data.
The Subcommittee for the Re-investigation of the Smolensk Disaster was established by regulation on February 4, 2016, signed by Antoni Macierewicz, then Minister of National Defense. Its first meeting occurred on March 7, 2016.
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mly/PAP
Source: wPolityce