| dc.description.abstract | Special services are an area of interest in different environments whose evaluation is not always objective.
Obtaining knowledge of policies behind the tasks implemented by these services as well as their structures and
operational and reconnaissance activities is extremely difficult in practice because that activity is protected by
the state under penalty of applicable laws. The presented structural changes that took place between 1983 and 1996
show the evolution of both civilian and military intelligence and counterintelligence. In the years 1983–1990,
civil servants, i.e. Department I (intelligence) and Department II (counterintelligence) were in the structure of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, the military structures, such as the Board of the II General Staff of
the Polish Armed Forces (intelligence) and the Internal Military Service (counterintelligence) were in the
structure of the Ministry of National Defence.
The system transition initiated by the so-called Round Table in 1989 also affected the reorganization of the
special services. Following these actions, after the dissolution of these services, the Office for State Protection
and the Military Information Services were established. These services carried out their tasks in a complex
internal and external situation, which had a significant impact on the tasks, on the power concerning the ongoing
operational and reconnaissance activities as well as on the organizational structures. | en |
