A combination of operational and general commanders, greater powers of the President, as head of the armed forces and the introduction of solutions that will let for an effective fight against hybrid threats and below the war threshold. These are proposals made by the presidential National safety Bureau to respond to current threats from the East. Members discussed them on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the first reading of the Presidential Act on State authorities' activities in the event of an external threat to State safety took place. Jacek Siewara, Head of BBN, talked about the main assumptions of the project. Whether the paper will go to work in the National Defence Committee will be decided by Members at this session of the Sejm. However, it is all indications that this will happen due to the fact that the representatives of all parliamentary clubs expressed their support for this solution. No enthusiasm, though.
What are the main assumptions of the bill? They concern 3 areas: at political level, it is about strengthening the strategy of state safety management (e.g. President, Prime Minister, Speakers of the Sejm and the Senate), and at military level it is about reforming the chain of command and introducing fresh solutions in the defence planning system.
One of the key changes proposed by president Andrzej Duda is the transformation of the Operations Command of the Types of Armed Forces and the General Command of the Types of Armed Forces into 1 institution – the Command of the Joint Types of Armed Forces. It would be subject to the established command of individual types of armed forces: land troops, air forces and naval forces, and 2 presently existing ones – peculiar Forces Component Command and Territorial Defence Army Command. The plans include the creation of medical troops and armed forces support troops. The task besides describes the tasks and powers of cybermilitary forces.
It would be fresh to require the improvement of permanent defence plans. president Duda wants the Chief of the General Staff of the HR to present the main assumptions of the paper to the Head of the Bureau at the preliminary phase of the work on "national plans to usage the armed forces to defend the state". However, it is the head of the SGWP who is to be liable for drawing up the plans in the final form and their subsequent update (the changes are to be informed by the president and then obtained his approval).
In addition to changes in the command system, the task provides for a greater commitment to the strategy of national safety management of key politicians (premier, marshals of both chambers of parliament, ministers) and heads of key institutions (e.g. NBP president). The commander of the armed forces besides wants politicians to take part in peculiar simulation exercises, preparing them to implement procedures in the event of a threat to national safety or war (the training program is to be developed by the MON and approved by the president of the Republic of Poland). It besides proposes the introduction of a permanent work strategy covering, among others, the Prime Minister. The president of the Council of Ministers is besides required to inform the president of "identified threats that may be of crucial importance to the safety of the State". The Head of Government should besides immediately notify the Marshals of the Sejm and the legislature of the key events for state security. This responds to reports of concealing information from the commander of the armed forces, for example. about a rocket that entered Poland during Russian fire of Ukraine.
BBN experts argue that the optimal solution is to introduce 2 states into Polish law: a state of constant state defence readiness and a state of full state defence readiness. However, presently – introduced 2 years ago by the Law on Defence of the Motherland – the regulations describe the concepts: the constant defence readiness of the State, the state of readiness of the time of crisis and the state of defence readiness of the State of War. The state of “permanent state defence readiness” is to be sometimes devoted, inter alia, to the preparation of operational plans and defence programmes or infrastructure enabling the management strategy to function.
The proposals contained in the bill raised mixed feelings. During the parliamentary debate, the paper gained acceptance mainly from representatives of the Law and Justice. Members from the another parliamentary clubs were sceptical, though they did not overturn the full project. “This task resembles a cuckoo as with which it is unknown what to do,” said Paweł Suski from KO. "However, out of respect for the President, the Civic Coalition will agree to send a paper for further work," he added. In turn, Mr Andrzej Grzyb (PSL) pointed out that any of the President's proposals were correct and that the full paper should not be rejected. "The examination of this task is not only justified due to respect for the President," said Mr Grzyb, president of the Parliamentary Committee on National Defence. As an example of affirmative solutions, he identified the rules on the functioning of cyber-military forces.
According to any Members, the proposals that president Duda is urging are besides far-reaching, specified as changes in the chain of command. – Should we carry out specified a revolution in the face of the threat from the east? Is this the right time? – asked Andrzej Szewinski (KO).
Jacek Siewara assured that the adoption of the bill would let for increased stableness and continuity of the functioning of the authorities in the event of a safety threat and a more decisive and effective consequence to, for example, hybrid attacks. He called on Members to work on the paper and adopt it.
