Cenckiewicz said on Thursday he had made the decision "out of responsibility for the state," arguing that the bureau had come under "brutal interference and pressure" from the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The National Security Bureau (BBN) is the body that supports the president on security and defence matters.
Cenckiewicz's resignation was accepted, and his duties were taken over by Brig. Gen. Andrzej Kowalski.
The argument over Cenckiewicz’s access to classified information has been running for months.
In a sharp response, Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the minister coordinating Poland's security services, said Cenckiewicz had "made a good decision, but a late one."
He said the outgoing BBN chief had no access to classified information and that remaining in the job had become “simply a fiction.”
Dobrzyński said the president and his office had earlier been informed that Cenckiewicz did not hold the necessary security clearance. He added that the key issue now was for the bureau to be led by "someone competent and fit to handle classified material."
Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the resignation opened “a new stage of cooperation” with the bureau.
Writing on X, Kosiniak-Kamysz said he hoped for “less emotion and more cooperation” in work aimed at strengthening Poland’s security and resilience.
Other politicians from the ruling coalition broadly welcomed the move, though several said it should have happened earlier.
Regional Policy Minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz said a person without security clearance should never have held such a post.
Mirosław Suchoń, head of the Polska 2050 parliamentary caucus, called the resignation overdue, while left-wing lawmaker Dariusz Wieczorek suggested it could reflect tensions inside the presidential palace.
Politicians from the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS) defended Cenckiewicz.
Cenckiewicz on Wednesday accused the government of disregarding court rulings and unjustifiably revoking his access to classified information.
On April 15, Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) dismissed appeals by the Prime Minister’s Office against earlier rulings that had overturned a decision to revoke Cenckiewicz's clearance.
A government spokesman said at the time that the court’s ruling did not automatically restore Cenckiewicz’s access to classified information, adding that he would remain without clearance pending further review.
Cenckiewicz argued that the situation had "effectively paralysed" the functioning of the National Security Bureau and made it impossible for him to continue in the role to which he was appointed in August by President Karol Nawrocki.
Presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz echoed Cenckiewicz's criticism, saying the government's actions had disrupted the bureau's work by depriving its chief of access to classified information.
He told reporters, however, that Cenckiewicz would remain with the President's Office to chair Nawrocki's Security and Defence Council and would also advise the president on national security in a different role.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP