Poland

Cold War

Bury, Jan. "From the Archives: The U.S. and West German Agent Radio Ciphers." Cryptologia 31, no. 4 (Oct. 2007): 343-357.

Abstract: This article presents a "translation of an in-house research paper of the communist Polish counterintelligence depicting the ciphers and the one-way radio communications patterns used by the U.S. and West German intelligence services against Poland in the 1960s and early 1970s."

Chapman, Robert D. "Remembering the Polish Underground." International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 19, no. 4 (Winter 2006-2007): 746-752.

The author reviews briefly the CIA's support of the Polish underground organization Wolnosc i Niezawislosc (WiN -- Freedom and Independence) in the early 1950s, as well as events surrounding the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

Gluchowski, L.W. "The Defection of Jozef Swialto and the Search for Jewish Scapegoats in the Polish United Workers' Party, 1953-1954." Intermarium (Columbia University Electronic Journal of Modern East Central European Postwar History). [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/sipa/REGIONAL/ECE/gluchowski.pdf]

Goldstein, Frank L., and Benjamin F. Findley, Jr., eds. Psychological Operations: Principles and Case Studies. Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: Air University Press, 1996.

Stech, Parameters, Autumn 1997, finds two "original, worthwhile" chapters in this edited work -- one on Poland's underground media (Laurence Orzell) and the other on psychological operations during Operation Just Cause in Panama (Dennis Walko). "Unfortunately, the remainder of this anthology is disappointing." A number of the older articles have been bypassed by events.

MacEachin, Douglas J. US Intelligence and the Polish Crisis, 1980 - 1981. Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 2001.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments
Author's Note
Copyright and Attribution Statement
Foreword
Chapter 1: The Burgeoning Confrontation
Chapter 2: The Confrontation Escalates
Chapter 3: US Launches Public Policy and Diplomatic Offensive
Chapter 4: Filling Out the Picture
Chapter 5: Intelligence and Policy
Chapter 6: Escalating Challenges to the Polish Regime
Chapter 7: Jaruzelski Takes the Government Reins
Chapter 8: A Setup for Military Crackdown
Chapter 9: A Close Call?
Chapter 10: Liberalization Infects the Party
Chapter 11: Solidarity Charges Ahead, and the Regime Digs In
Chapter 12: Bringing Down the Curtain
Chapter 13: Caught Off Guard
Chapter 14: Would It Have Made a Difference
Sources

Clark comment: This will not be the last word on how the United States interacted with the Polish Crisis of 1980-1981, but it serves as an excellent starting point.

Zelikow, FA, Nov./Dec. 2001, sees this as "one of the best published analyses of the Polish crisis." MacEachin's critique of the intelligence community is "ruthless but fair."

Monat, Pawel, with John Dille. Spy in the U.S. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. London: Frederick Muller, 1964.

Clark comment: The author was a Polish intelligence officer and military attaché in Washington in the mid-to-late 1950s. Spy in the U.S. focuses primarily on Monat's intelligence collection activities in the United States.

According to Pforzheimer, "[i]ntelligence tradecraft ... is well described" in the book.

Constantinides notes that while there may some dispute as to whether or not the author was involved in all the activities he describes, "the technical descriptions he gives of the tradecraft involved are of a professional level."

Persak, Krzysztof, and Lukasz Kaminski, eds. A Handbook of the Communist Security Apparatus in East Central Rurope, 1944-1989. Warsaw, Poland: Institute of National Remembrance, 2005.

Holland, IJI&C 19.2 (Summer 2006), sees this as an "exceptionally useful volume." Although the "volume's chapters are uneven,... each chapter provides a dependable base line of information."

Weiser, Benjamin. "A Secret Warsaw Pact with the U.S. in the Cold War." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 21-27 Feb. 1994, 18-19.

In an "extraordinary intelligence effort coordinated by the CIA," the United States acquired "advanced Soviet weapons from Warsaw Pact countries" during the 1980s. Poland was "the most significant collaborator in the program," but Romania also was a source and one deal in 1987 involved the purchase of 12 T-72 Soviet battle tanks from Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

X, Mr., with Bruce E. Henderson and C.C. Cyr. Double Eagle: The Autobiography of a Polish Spy Who Defected to the West. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1979. [pb] New York: Ballantine, 1983.

Clark comment: The author was a Polish Security Service (UB) lieutenant colonel who was recruited by the CIA and worked in place in Norway from 1964 to 1966 when he defected to the United States.

According to Pforzheimer, "[p]ersonal, familial, and nationalist concerns have apparently soured him." Nevertheless, the book gives a "window ... into the organization, selection, training, and the operational flavor of UB life, including the workings of the Soviet advisor system."

Constantinides finds that the author "does not discuss his operations in sufficient length or detail to make them interesting."

Return to Poland Table of Contents