Security chief Nowak resists Prime Minister's attempts to remove him

Prime Minister Leszek Miller, as he promised several weeks ago, has gone ahead with plans to remove the head of the State Security Office (UOP). Miller is reported by Gazeta Wyborcza to have asked UOP chief Colonel Zbigniew Nowak to step down, citing a breakdown in communication between the two. However, Nowak is refusing, insisting that in the current international situation the UOP staff cannot be left without someone in charge. Miller will today convene a special commission to deliberate the matter. He must obtain the consent of the commission and the approval of President Kwasniewski before the UOP chief can be dismissed. As the commission consists of four members of the ruling coalition and only one opposition deputy, press reports speculate that Miller should not have much difficulty in getting his way, although Kwasniewski's consent is by no means certain. Upon his return from Berlin, Miller refused to make any comment regarding possible candidates for the post of UOP chief. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 9) M.T.K.