Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego w systemie bezpieczeństwa państwa

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to present the position and role of the Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW) in the system of the state’s security. Basing on the subject literature, the most important legal acts and the information provided by the official internet services, ABW will be positioned with respect to other bodies of the system; its internal system and the nature of its operation will be described; and its most important tasks, structure, and functions fulfilled by this unit as a special service will be presented. Being the central body of the governmental administration in the matters of the state’s internal security and the constitutional order protection, ABW fulfils the leading role in the state’s security system. It is visible in the wide range of assigned tasks, realized in different spheres of state security, and in the kind of measures taken while realizing these tasks, in the organizational structure of the body, and in the extensive power of its officers. On the other hand, activities of a service unit which is endowed with such vast competences, and which fulfils a role fundamental to the security and undisturbed functioning of the state and its institutions, must be subject to strict civil control.