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Poland Civilian Command Structure
In mid-1991 an Interministerial Commission for the
Reorganization of National Defense submitted its
structural
reform recommendations to the Council of Ministers, citing
the
need to amend the constitution and the law on military
service.
The Ministry of National Defense was to be converted into
a
civilian organ of state administration with a separate,
subordinate armed forces section. Appointment of a
civilian
minister of national defense would improve the ministry's
communications and joint activity with Parliament, state
agencies, and the national economy, ensure depolitization
of the
military, and relieve the military of responsibility for
budgets,
administration, supply, social issues, and other matters
judged
more appropriate for a civilian agency. The military
section
would prepare concepts for national defense, forecast
international situations that might bear on national
security,
plan long-term projects of the arms industry, and assist
in
export and import policy making.
Passage of the Little Constitution in the fall of 1992
was
expected to define the previously hazy lines of national
security
authority. However, Walesa expressed open dissatisfaction
with
the control allotted the presidency, heralding possible
future
clashes with Parliament and the Council of Ministers over
individual aspects of security policy. The Little
Constitution
specifies that peacetime command of the Polish Army be
exercised
by the president of the republic and by the prime minister
and
the Council of Ministers
(see
Constitutional Revisions after April 1989;
Presidency;
Council of Ministers
, ch. 4). All
levels
of central and local government are charged with managing
aspects
of the national defense assigned them by the constitution
and by
legislation. The president oversees the activities of all
such
agencies. The president determines the composition of
military
advisory bodies in peacetime and the composition of a war
staff
in wartime. After consultation with the prime minister,
the
president appoints a minister of national defense, after
consultation with the minister of national defense, he
appoints
the chief of the General Staff. In turn, the minister is
to
consult with the president on appointment of commanders of
military districts and the individual services.
The Sejm is responsible for assigning appropriate
levels of
annual funding and for passing laws regulating defense.
The
Sejm's Commission on National Defense was revamped and
empowered
to call a defense official to testify under oath on
general
questions of national defense policy. The wartime national
defense system gives the president and the Council of
Ministers
supreme decision-making power; in wartime the Sejm is to
appoint
the chief commander of the Polish Army, who would have
strategic
command of all armed forces for the duration of wartime
and who
would be directly responsible to the president. If the
Sejm were
not in session when war began, the president would appoint
the
commander. The Council of Ministers has specific wartime
responsibility for organizing supply and other support
services
from the civilian sector to the armed forces, and for
protecting
the civilian population from the effects of war. District
governors have decision-making power for all
administrative and
economic units within their jurisdiction.
The minister of national defense is responsible for
shaping
and implementing national defense policy. The minister
administers the development, education, and training of
the armed
forces; resolves issues of international cooperation; and
oversees defense tasks assigned to outside agencies. The
civilian
component of the Ministry of National Defense includes
vice
ministers for social relations and education, defense
policy, and
armament. The Viceministry for Social Relations and
Education
includes veterans' affairs, public information, physical
education, and departments of education and social policy.
The
Viceministry for Defense Policy includes strategic
planning,
foreign relations, legal affairs, mobilization policy, and
the
National Defense Academy (Akademia Obrony Narodowej--AON).
And
the Viceministry for Armament includes procurement,
research and
development, military technical inspection, and military
and
transportation infrastructure. The minister of national
defense
also is supported by offices or departments for
intelligence (the
so-called Department Two), control and supervision,
personnel,
and finances, as well as the office of the chief military
prosecutor.
Data as of October 1992
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