- Stare Kiejkuty (base)
On the territory village of Stare Kiejkuty,
Poland , is a restricted military area that is the seat of "Ośrodek Szkolenia Agencji Wywiadu" (Intelligence Agency Training Center) " [http://www.unknownnews.org/0512161210-CIA.html] Since 2005 it has attracted scrutiny as being a possibleblack site involved in the CIA's program ofextraordinary rendition . [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6212843.stm Hunt for CIA 'black site' in Poland] ,BBC , 28 December 2006]About the base
The facility's military uses go back at least as far as the Second World War, when it served as an outpost of the
III Reich SD (the intelligence service of the SS) andAbwehr . [ [http://www.ostblog.de/2006/01/die_polnische_unschuld_ist_una.php OST:BLOG: Die polnische Unschuld ist unantastbar! ] ] The airstrip that would later be expanded into the modernSzczytno-Szymany International Airport , 20 km away, originally served as a landing strip forLuftwaffe planes for bombing raids onWarsaw . In 1968 it would be used by theSoviet Army to plan operations to crush thePrague Spring .Its use by
Polish intelligence dates to the fall1971 ; in thePRL era it appeared on maps as a non-descriptholiday resort. It had a very special status, however, having been the only intelligence training facility in theEastern Bloc located outside theSoviet Union .Signs are posted nearby reminding casual visitors of prohibitions against taking photographs, and journalists have reported having their cameras searched (and memory cards confiscated) when taking pictures near the facility.
On
December 15 ,2005 ,Zbigniew Siemiątkowski , the former head of the the current Polish national intelligence agency,Agencja Wywiadu , confirmed [cite web
url = http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/metroon/1,0,3070115.html
title = Wizyty CIA w Kiejkutach to forma współpracy] that near the village of Stare Kiejkuty facility there exists two "internal zones" to which CIA officers have access; one of these (referred to as "Strefa B") is officially the home of OSAW.Other Polish intelligence officials have confirmed [cite web
url = http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/:Extra-CIA-Macht-Amerikas/551562.html
title = Al-Kaida-Häftlinge offenbar in Polen verhört] that American personnel associated with the facility have been known to reside in the area for severalmonth s at atime , going back 5 or 6year s.References
Notes
Articles
* http://www.amnistia.net/news/articles/guerirak/jerzykos/jerzykos_715.htm - polish
* http://www.przekroj.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=787&Itemid=48 0 - polish
* http://binnenland21.web-log.nl/binnenland21/2005/12/luchthaven_in_v.html - Dutch
* http://mariusz-armia.blog.onet.pl/ - polish military blog
* http://www.ostblog.de/2006/01/die_polnische_unschuld_ist_una.php - ostblog post, in German
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