President Andrzej Duda – draft law in the event of an external threat to state security

On May 2, 2024, the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, submitted to the Sejm a draft act on the activities of state authorities in the event of an external threat to state security.

As we read on the website of the National Security Bureau, “the project envisages introducing changes in the military and non-military areas, strengthening the capabilities to counteract hybrid threats, subliminal threats and direct armed aggression.” “The solutions are a response to changes in the security environment, including new forms of threats from the Russian Federation directed against Poland and other European Union and NATO countries,” it said.

The BBN announcement listed three “main areas of change”:

1. Strengthening the state security management system by increasing the coordination of activities, information exchange and immediate response by public authorities, the Speakers of the Sejm and Senate and the command bodies of the Polish Armed Forces.

2. Strengthening the defense planning system in the country by introducing regulations regarding the main planning documents (Political and Strategic Defense Directive of the Republic of Poland, Defense Response Plan of the Republic of Poland, national plans for the use of the Armed Forces to defend the state and the main and detailed directions of development of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland). The project envisages the introduction of a new solution, i.e. permanent defense plans, aimed at ensuring the ability of the Polish Armed Forces to immediately respond to urgent threats.

3. Reform of the Management and Command System of the Polish Armed Forces ensuring command coherence, approximation of peacetime and wartime structures and procedures, and preparation in peacetime for the implementation of tasks during the conflict. As part of the reform, the Operational Command of the Types of Armed Forces and the General Command of the Types of Armed Forces are to be transformed into the Command of the Joint Types of Armed Forces. Individual commands of the armed forces are to be established: the Land Forces Command, the Air Force Command and the Navy Command, as well as the Medical Forces Component Command.

“The assumptions of the project are consistent with the recommendations of the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Poland. They were prepared, among others, on the basis of an analysis of the doctrine of the actions of the Russian Federation carried out during the aggression against Ukraine, as well as extensive exercises of the state's defense system, carried out with the participation of the President of the Republic of Poland and the Prime Minister , the Speaker of the Sejm, the Speaker of the Senate, the Minister of National Defense, the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army and other state institutions,” it was reported.

The statement added that “the draft act, as a presidential initiative, was prepared at the National Security Bureau in cooperation with the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland.”