The National Security Bureau (BBN) issued a statement regarding Jarosław Stróżyk’s attack on Prof. Sławomir Cenckiewicz, pointing out that his remarks were “inappropriate and false” and that they discredit him as a person. The Bureau also emphasized that “the case concerning the attempt to revoke Prof. Cenckiewicz’s security clearance is purely political.”
Stróżyk’s attack on Prof. Cenckiewicz
In a Wednesday interview on TVN24, the head of the Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW), Jarosław Stróżyk, falsely claimed that the head of the National Security Bureau, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, currently does not have access to classified information. Crucially, Gen. Stróżyk took full responsibility for the operation against the historian, stressing that the documents in the case had been signed “on his behalf, with his full knowledge and consent.” However, he refused to provide details of the proceedings, citing confidentiality and potential criminal liability.
The National Security Bureau published an extensive statement regarding Stróżyk’s remarks
“The head of the SKW misled the public by claiming that the head of the BBN does not hold a security clearance. The truth is the opposite of what Gen. J. Stróżyk claims or believes. By a ruling issued on June 17, 2025, the Provincial Administrative Court reinstated Prof. S. Cenckiewicz’s security clearance, which had been revoked by the SKW on July 31, 2024, following a control procedure,” the BBN stated.
It was recalled that this ruling follows directly from Article 152(1) of the Act of August 30, 2002 – Law on Proceedings Before Administrative Courts, which states that “In the event of an appeal being upheld, the administrative act or measure [such as the SKW decision to revoke Prof. S. Cenckiewicz’s clearance] shall not produce legal effects until the judgment becomes final, unless the court decides otherwise.”
“Aside from all the well-known facts in this case, it is also important to note that the Military Counterintelligence Service did not request the court to exclude the application of this provision, although it had the right to do so,” the Bureau recalled.
The statement then referred to Stróżyk’s following words:
“If someone has difficulties, I would say, in logically interpreting medical leaflets, then in my view that person should not have access to top secret, secret, or confidential documents – because those are the classifications we are talking about – so that they can then properly understand all documents, including, for example, Poland’s defense plan.”
“We interpret this as a veiled insinuation suggesting that Prof. S. Cenckiewicz, when filling out his personal security questionnaire in 2021 as part of the process of obtaining his clearance, lied about a medication he had briefly taken at the time, claiming it was not a psychotropic drug, and that this alleged lie stemmed from his inability to understand the leaflet of that medicine,” the BBN assessed.
It also added that “beyond the inappropriateness and falsehood of this statement, which discredits Gen. J. Stróżyk as a person, it should be emphasized that neither the head of the SKW nor the Military Counterintelligence Service itself has the authority or competence to determine the cognitive abilities of individuals undergoing a vetting procedure.”
“Furthermore, the medication in question is not a psychotropic drug, although during the control procedure conducted against Prof. S. Cenckiewicz, the SKW arbitrarily classified it as such,” the statement continued.
The Bureau added that “the term ‘guarantee of maintaining state secrecy’ is a statutory term.”
“If one were to follow the logic of the SKW chief’s statement that any person who provides Prof. S. Cenckiewicz with classified information ‘commits a crime,’ it would mean that members of the National Security Council who provided such information to the head of the BBN during the Council meeting on September 11, 2025, also committed a crime. Gen. J. Stróżyk’s remarks clearly indicate that the attempt to revoke Prof. S. Cenckiewicz’s security clearance is purely political,” the BBN concluded.