The lack of the president's signature on promotions to the first officer rank in the Internal Security Agency and the Military Counterintelligence Service is indefensible, Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, coordinator of the special services, said on Sunday. He added that the president cannot summon officers for individual meetings “without the consent of their superiors.”
On Friday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted a recording on the X website in which he accused President Karol Nawrocki of blocking the nominations for the first officer rank of 136 future officers of the Military Counterintelligence Service and the Internal Security Agency. As he assessed, this is “a continuation of the president's war against the Polish government.”
President Karol Nawrocki also reacted to the Prime Minister's accusations of blocking officer nominations in the services on Friday and in a recording on the 10th. As he said, the Prime Minister decided that the heads of the secret services are prohibited from meeting the president. – The president's representative was refused to provide important information regarding state security during the meeting of the College for Secret Services. My 4 meetings with the heads of the services were canceled – they were supposed to discuss key issues for Poland's security; Decisions regarding officer nominations were also to be made, Nawrocki said.
To be prime minister, it is not enough to post on X. You also need to be able to govern and put the state above party interests.
The security of Poles has no party colors, Prime Minister of a lawless government. https://t.co/02IfBVyYah pic.twitter.com/GB9WHu2Ejt
— Karol Nawrocki (@NawrockiKn) November 7, 2025
Since Friday, representatives of both the president and the government have been commenting on the matter – mainly via social networking sites.
“A disastrous and harmful pretext for Poland to fight the government”
“The lack of the president's signature on promotions to the first officer rank in the Internal Security Agency and the Military Counterintelligence Service is absolutely indefensible. Since Friday, we have been explaining that it is a disastrous and harmful pretext for Poland to fight the government. Unfortunately, the obvious legal, substantive and human arguments, as can be seen by the responses of the president's officials, fall flat,” wrote Tomasz Siemoniak, coordinator of the secret services, in the latest Sunday entry on the X platform.
He also assured that the president “of course receives and will receive immediately all relevant classified information from the secret services, just like his predecessors.” “There is no basis for starting a political war here. Moreover, I have not received any complaint or comment from the president's officials in this regard,” Siemoniak noted.
In the minister's opinion, however, it cannot be the case that “without the consent of their superiors, officers will be brought in for individual talks with the president, to whom they are in no way subordinate.” “It's just spoiling the country,” he added. At the same time, he asked the question: “Does the Prime Minister call the president's officials?”
“Despite political differences, we cooperated constructively with President Andrzej Duda and his heads of the National Security Bureau in the area of Poland's security. Because this is the interest of our country. This is what our citizens want. If the gentlemen officials of the current president think otherwise, at least exclude from your war young officers who are simply patriots ready to make sacrifices for the Homeland. They are not from any party. Do not make them the object of a political game. Neither they deserve it, nor do you benefit from it you will gain. At least give up this war,” Siemoniak emphasized.
The spokesman for the Minister Coordinator of Special Services, Jacek Dobrzyński, in his Sunday entry on Platform
“Now telling Poles that your hastily summoning the service chiefs for supposed consultations regarding promotions to the first officer rank is completely ineffective,” he wrote.
“You use special services in the political fight against the President of the Republic of Poland”
In response to this entry, the president's spokesman, Rafał Leśkiewicz, assessed the X platform as an “unprecedented situation of the refusal to participate in meetings with the President of the secret services.” “Let me just remind you that during the scheduled meetings, security issues and officer promotions were to be discussed. So much for the facts. Unfortunately, the service chiefs ignored the President's invitation. Today, everyone knows that you are once again using the secret services in the political fight against the President of the Republic of Poland. And the interests of the Polish State are at the back of your mind,” wrote Leśkiewicz.
On Saturday, the head of the presidential Bureau of International Policy, Marcin Przydacz, during a conversation with RMF FM, denied that the president refused to nominate officers of the Military Counterintelligence Service and the Internal Security Agency. He added that the issue of nomination was to be discussed at a meeting with the service chiefs, which did not take place. – This is not true, the president did not refuse the nomination. There was no set date for the nomination, there is a discussion about when and in what form and what the nominations were to be, this was supposed to be the subject of talks with the service chiefs, but they did not come to the meeting. They did not inform that they would not come, and then it turned out that the Prime Minister banned them, said Przydacz. He assessed that the meeting “did not take place contrary to the provisions of the law.”
Siemoniak commented on the presidential minister's words on Saturday on the X platform.
“The formula has been simple for decades. Candidates complete courses, pass exams, meet the requirements, and the head of the service applies for the first officer rank. What is there to discuss, what should the president negotiate? Choose by name? These are not candidates for generals, these are prepared candidates for officers. Of course, he can refuse to sign, which is what he did,” wrote the minister.
He added that Karol Nawrocki is “the first president in history to do something like this.” “His office knew perfectly well that the ceremony for those promoted was planned for Friday, November 7, in the context of Independence Day. The lack of a signature had clear consequences. Moreover, as I have already written, among the precisely indicated topics for 'briefings' with the heads of services by the head of the president's office, there was absolutely no issue of officer nominations,” wrote Siemoniak.
Government spokesman Adam Szłapka also commented on the nomination issue on the X platform. “Signing officer nominations is the President's constitutional duty – honorable, but an obligation. Not grace, not good will, not whim,” wrote Szłapka.
The president's press spokesman, Rafał Leśkiewicz, in turn, reacted to the entries of government members. In his entry on the X platform, he accused them of “repeating the rhetoric of falsehood and manipulation.”
“The President was cut off from access to information”
“Meanwhile, the facts are that for the first time in the history of the Third Polish Republic, the heads of the secret services did not accept the invitation of the President of the Republic of Poland to meetings on important matters related to state security. The President was cut off from access to information. These meetings were also supposed to concern officer nominations. The President wanted to discuss the requests addressed to him with the heads of the services. The meetings did not take place because the Prime Minister banned the acceptance of invitations from the President,” wrote Leśkiewicz.
In Poland, the first officer rank is awarded by the president at the request of the minister of national defense or, in the case of services subordinate to him, the minister of interior affairs and administration. Traditionally, the awarding of officer ranks – including generals – in the army and other services takes place on the occasion of the most important national holidays, such as the National Independence Day on November 11. (PAP)
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