Poland signs cooperation agreement with US Secret Service

Jun 16, 2011, 11:30 GMT

Warsaw - Poland's Government Protection Bureau signed an agreement Thursday with the United States Secret Service on working together to protect diplomatic posts in Iraq and conducting training for agents.

'This will sanction what is happening now - mutual cooperation, informing of dangers and training functionaries in Poland and the USA,' Marian Janicki, the head of the bureau, told the Polish Press Agency.

Poland has said it wants help from the US to assess high-risk situations, such as the 2007 assassination attempt on Edward Peitrzyk, Poland's ambassador general in Iraq. That attack killed one bureau officer and injured three.

A delegation from the US visited Warsaw on Thursday for the signing of the agreement. The delegation also wanted to thank the Government Protection Bureau for providing security during US President Barack Obama's visit to Poland last month.

The agreement comes as the bureau celebrates the anniversary of its founding in June 1924. The bureau was formed to protect the country's president after the assassination of President Gabriel Narutowicz in 1922.