dc.description.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. | en_EN |