Security Chief: Work is underway on Poland's new security strategy
Pawel Soloch, head of Poland's National Security Bureau (BBN) said on Monday that in the present calendar year, his agency would prepare recommendations for Poland's new National Security Strategy.
Speaking in a radio interview, the official noted that the current strategy dated back to 2014 and was "no longer up to speed" with the present situation.
"There is no doubt that the security environment has changed," he said, "and so we would like to prepare recommendations for the strategy this year."
Soloch was also asked about relations between President Andrzej Duda - to whom he reports - and the Defence Ministry, as well as whether Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz would be replaced.
"I know nothing about a change in the post of the defence minister," the BBN head replied.
"But I have pointed out certain structural, systemic weaknesses in the current arrangement," he added, "which mean that when there is a difference of opinion (between the President and the MoD - PAP), the tensions are exacerbated by the systemic inconsistency."
The official explained that "these competencies are not clearly defined and may cancel each other out - which is why I have called for systemic changes in this regard."
Yet, "despite all these difficulties, what is positive is that there is no divergence of views on the overall direction," Soloch said.
"Both the president and the government, which also includes the defence minister," the BBN chief pointed out, "have jointly implemented an increase in public expenditure on the armed forces."
Moreover, Soloch added, having begun its two-year spell in the United Nations Security Council on January 1, Poland will also be able to act on a global scale.
"The two main challenges for the UNSC are the conflict in Ukraine and the reconstruction of the areas which had been destroyed by ISIS," the BBN chief concluded.
Source: PAP