The leading motif of the present volume of «Studia Politologiczne» is to show the place and role of special services in the states that came into existence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the social and political life of the Soviet Union special services played a special role, typical of the states with a totalitarian system. In the doctrine, special services constitute an important element of the security system of the state. Their task is to recognize and counteract external and internal phenomena threatening the country’s interest. The role of the services is to secretly obtain, analyze, process and transfer to the competent organs of the authorities the information which can be of significant importance for the state’s security policy in all its dimensions, as well as to inform in advance of potential or existing dangers to the country. In democratic systems, the services are subject to control by political bodies. They are not an autonomous area which is not controlled by the society. Their tasks strictly follow from the needs of the state and the policy run by this state. By no means can the intelligence or counterintelligence services interfere into the world of politics. In the system of democratic countries there is also a danger that special services will get out of the control of social bodies. This phenomenon is not of a system character but can only be an exception which proves the rule, the rule being subordination of the services to civil control by constitutional organs of power or public opinion.