Poland - Ministry of Defense
Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej

The Constitution gives the Minister of National Defence the right to realize the President's entitles to the supremacy over the Armed Forces during peace time. The Chief of the Staff and the commanders of different kinds of armed forces are submitted directly to the Minister of the National Defence.

Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz is well-known for his anti-Russian outbursts. Earlier in 2016, the minister claimed that the 2010 air catastrophe over Smolensk, which resulted in the death of the Polish president and much of his staff, was actually a 'terrorist attack' by the Russian government, equivalent to Hitler's aggression against Germany in 1939. Before his appointment to the defense ministry by the Law and Justice government in 2015, Macierewicz was already well-known in Poland for his controversial and sometimes racist statements, suggesting for instance that the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion have some truth' in them, and claiming that Poland and Russia have been in a state of war since the 2010 presidential plane crash.

In the broad scope of the Minister of National Defence responsibility lie, among other things, such activities as:

• the management in peacetime all of the activities of the Armed Forces;
• the preparation of the assumptions of national defence, including proposals pertaining to the development and structure of the Armed Forces;
• the realization of the general assumptions, decisions and directives of the Council of Ministers in the area of national defence;
• the execution, within the scope of powers given by the Council of Ministers, of general supervision over the realization of defence-related tasks by the agencies and bodies of the State Administration, State institutions, local authorities, economic entities etc.;
• overall leadership in matters connected with the execution of the common national defence duty;
• the fulfilling of international agreements, stemming from the decisions of the Council of Ministers, pertaining to the participation of Polish military contingents in international peacekeeping missions and humanitarian actions and military exercises conducted jointly with other countries or international organizations.

The Minister executes supervision among others over:

• budget management;
• personnel policy;
• the economic-financial control units;
• units responsible for controlling the level of training and combat readiness of the Armed Forces;
• international contacts;

The Minister of National Defence manages the activities of the Ministry of Defence and of the Armed Forces directly and with the assistance of the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, the Secretary or Secretaries of State, and the Undersecretaries of State. The Minister of National Defence has all disciplinary powers in relation to all persons in active military service; he cannot transfer these powers to any other person. In relation to persons on active military service, the Minister's decisions have the power of a military order.

An Act of Law specifies that the Minister of National Defence is the main agent of the State Administration in the area of national defence. He manages the Ministry, including all of the activities of the Polish Armed Forces. He prepares the assumptions of national defence and realizes overall leadership in matters connected with the execution of the common national defence duty.

• Minister of National Defence
• Secretary of State
• Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces
• Under-Secretary of State
• Under-Secretary of State
• Director General of the Ministry of National Defence
• The Minister's Secretariate
• Spokesman to the Minister of the National Defence
  
  
• Public Information Department
• Department of Inspection
• Law Department
• Budget Department
• Infrastructure Department
• Armament Policy Department
• Armed Forces Procurement Department
• International Security Policy Department
• Military Foreign Affairs Department
• Social Affairs Department
• Education and Promotion of Defence Department
• Administration Deparment
• Personnel Department
• Information Technology and Telecommunication Department
• Strategy and Defense Planning DepartmentThe Transformation Department
• Military Education Department
• Classified Information Protection Department
  
  
• Deputy Chief's of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces
• Deputy Chief's of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces
• P-1 Organization and Recruitment Directorate
• P-2 Intelligence and Reconnaissance Analysis Directorate
• P-3 Operational Planning Directorate
• P-4 Logistic Planning Directorate
• P-5 Strategic Planning Directorate
• P-6 Commanding Systems and Liaison Planning Directorate
• P-7 Training Directorate
• P-8 Material Planning Directorate
• Coordination Bureau