Exhuming the past

Zbigniew Wasserman, the government coordinator for the secret services, announced last week that the report on the dissolution of the WSI (Military Intelligence Service) is in the final stages of preparation. It will therefore be turned over to President Kaczyński on February 12. In addition, the report will be sent to the Marshals of the Sejm and Senate as well as to the Prime Minister and Deputy Ministers, who will give their opinions to the president.

According to previous announcements, President Kaczyński was supposed to reveal parts of the report on the WSI to the public on February 1. A significant portion of the report was leaked to the media at the end of January, however, and the planned unveiling did not occur.

TVP's news program Wiadomości reported that the WSI had tried to take control of Poland's media by placing about 115 agents among journalists at different media organizations, especially in television stations. At that time the WSI was giving particular story ideas to agent-journalists, who prepared and published reports based on them.

The case of the media leak is being investigated by the Warsaw Prosecutor's office.

The WSI was dissolved last autumn as a result of Law and Justice (PiS) reforms. The report will disclose the names of agents and soldiers who acted against the law or outside the WSI's bounds.