Soviet-era compound in northern Poland - Alledged site of secret CIA interrogation, detentions

About 10km from village of Stare Kiejkuty, Poland, is a restricted military area that is the headquarters of Military Unit 2669; officially it is described as "training center for news service cadres."[1] Since 2005 it has attracted scrutiny as being a possible black site involved in the CIA's program of extraordinary rendition.

The facility's military uses go back at least as far as the Second World War, when it served as an outpost of the German SD (the intelligence service of the SS) and Abwehr.[3] The airstrip that would later be expanded into the modern Szczytno-Szymany International Airport, 20km away, originally served as a landing strip for Luftwaffe planes for bombing raids on Warsaw. In 1968 it would be used by the Soviet Army to plan operations to crush the Prague Spring.

Its use by Polish intelligence dates to the fall 1971; in the socialist era it appeared on maps as a non-descript vacation resort. It had a very special status, however, having been the only intelligence training facility in the Eastern Bloc located outside the Soviet 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[4] that within 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 Military Unit 2669. Other Polish intelligence officials have confirmed[5] that American personnel associated with the facility have been known to reside in the area for several months at a time, going back 5 or 6 years.