PM appoints new chief of Foreign Intelligence Agency

"The Polish PM’s appointed new Head of Poland’s Foreign Intelligence Agency. Col. Bartosz Jarmuszkiewicz came to @AWgovPL from the Internal Security Agency #ABW where he had served as Deputy Head in charge a/o of counterintelligence," Stanisław Żaryn announced on Twitter.

"The candidate had earlier been approved by the President of Poland, the Council for Special Services at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Special Services Committee at the lower house of the Polish Parliament," the Agency said in a statement at its website.

The previous chief of intelligence Piotr Krawczyk handed in his resignation last week due to "personal reasons". The tvn24.pl portal had earlier informed that his dismissal was likely to happen. As our own journalist Robert Zieliński confirmed, the unexplained irregularities surrounding the death of arms and ventilators dealer Andrzej Izdebski - as well as the expedited cremation of his body - had been the true reasons behind Krawczyk's dismissal.

The Agency also said in the statement that "Col. Bartosz Jarmuszkiewicz is an officer with experience as an operative gained over many years of his service". "He is a graduate of an officer course for the intelligence officers held in the Center of Excellence for the Intelligence Staff in Stare Kiejkuty. His service – first in the Office for State Protection (UOP) and then in the Internal Security Agency (ABW) – started in 1997," we read.

"Since the very beginning of his carrier Col. Jarmuszkiewicz has been dealing with operative work. Over the years, he has held different mid-level and high-level management positions both in the field and in the ABW’s Headquarters," Żaryn said.

"Since 20th May, 2020 and until his appointment as the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Agency, Col. Jarmuszkiewicz served as the Deputy Head of the Internal Security Agency. His tasks included, among other things, exercising oversight over the Department of Counter-Intelligence. He actively cooperated with intelligence and counter-intelligence of the allied secret services," the statement said.