Poland’s prime minister appoints new heads of state security

Poland’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Tuesday that his pro-European Union government has appointed new heads of state security, intelligence and anti-corruption offices. Two of the new appointees are women.

The appointments replace officials who had served under the previous right-wing, Euro-sceptic government. Tusk told a news conference he expects “very good, loyal and disciplined” cooperation with the new agency chiefs, all with significant experience in their areas.

The two women are Col. Dorota Gawecka, who was named head of military intelligence, and Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, the new Central Anti-Corruption Bureau chief.

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Col. Rafal Syrysko, with more than 30 years of experience in counterintelligence and internal security sector, is the new head of the Internal Security Agency. Col. Pawel Szot is the new head of intelligence while the new military counterintelligence chief is Gen. Jaroslaw Strozyk, also with more than 30 years of experience in the field.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk waves as he arrives for a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Dec. 15, 2023. European Union leaders conclude a second day of meetings in which they will discuss the situation in Gaza. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Tusk’s coalition government took office last week and began reversing policies of the previous administration that many in Poland found divisive.

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Parties that make up the new government collectively won majority of votes in the Oct. 15 election. They had vowed to jointly rule under the leadership of Tusk, who served as prime minister in 2007-2014 and was head of the European Council in 2014-2019.