Secretive Spies or Ordinary Clerks? Polish Communist Intelligence Services in Brussels, 1975–89

The declassification of communist state security archives allows for a comparison between the common imagination of intelligence during the Cold War and historical reality. This case study of the Polish secret services in Belgium between 1975 and 1989 shows that some views are accurate. Embassies were the headquarters of espionage activity and all residents-i.e. the coordinators of the 'Belgian' cell-and intelligence officers worked under diplomatic cover. Many other images, however, appear to be far from the truth. The Polish state security was not omnipresent and efficient. It failed to obtain relevant information, gathered everything that randomly fell into its hands, and mainly based its analyses on published sources. Nevertheless, its self-assessments of its activities and results are very positive. They demonstrate that this weakness was the norm rather than the exception.status: publishe