The narrative that Professor Sławomir Cenckiewicz has allegedly been stripped of his security clearances has become part of the Civic Platform’s political messaging. However, it turns out that the government is not unified on this matter. The head of the National Security Bureau (BBN) shared on Telewizja Republika what he was told by one of the ministers.
A day before Karol Nawrocki was sworn in as President of the Republic of Poland, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister filed cassation complaints with the Supreme Administrative Court against the June 17 rulings of the Voivodeship Administrative Court regarding the revocation of Sławomir Cenckiewicz’s security clearances for access to classified information. This sparked a narrative suggesting that Professor Cenckiewicz had lost these clearances, allegedly signaling a downgrade in the status of the National Security Bureau, headed by the historian.
“Professor Cenckiewicz has access to classified information. You need to do a better legal analysis,” responded his attorney, Bartosz Lewandowski, swiftly.
This follows directly from Article 152 of the Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts, which states that “if a complaint against an act or action is upheld, it does not produce legal effects until the judgment becomes final, unless the court decides otherwise.”
Professor Cenckiewicz addressed the confusion surrounding his alleged lack of access to classified information on Telewizja Republika.
“One of the ministers—please allow me not to reveal his name—told me: ‘Minister, no serious and reasonable person in our government believes that you do not have a security clearance for access to classified information,’” he said in a conversation with journalist Miłosz Kłeczek. He added that the minister in question was neither from the Civic Platform nor the Polish People’s Party, suggesting that the statement came from a minister representing either the Left or Poland 2050.
He declared that the Presidential Chancellery is ready to “accept the conditions of war.”
“We will consider how to operate under wartime conditions. After all, the National Security Bureau is the institution that analyzes security situations in all conditions—peace, threat, or war. In a sense, we are specialized to adjust our operations to handle such situations,” he said.
And further: “Recently, the Prime Minister, in one of the television interviews, was kind enough to say that he wouldn’t allow anyone to ‘demolish his government.’ I’m very sorry, but no one wants to demolish his government—someone, however, seems to want to demolish the office of the president. There have already been announcements about starving the president’s office, meaning reducing its budget across all budget proposals, including probably the National Security Bureau. There have also been statements about the president’s alleged lack of competence. On top of all this, there’s the hateful campaign led by Mr. Cezary Tomczyk and a few other political hitmen whose sole goal is to attack me.”
“We are moving forward, and leading the charge is President Karol Nawrocki. This is no longer a potential war just against Cenckiewicz, but against the entire presidential office. If that’s what they want—so be it. We will manage,” declared the head of the National Security Bureau.