Ministry of National Defence (Poland)

Ministry of National Defence
Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej

Building of the Ministry of Defence on Niepodległości Avenue in Warsaw
Ministry overview
FormedNovember 30, 1942; 81 years ago (1942-11-30)
Preceding Ministry
  • Ministry of Military Affairs
JurisdictionGovernment of Poland
Headquartersul. Klonowa 1, Warsaw
52°12′44″N 21°1′33″E / 52.21222°N 21.02583°E / 52.21222; 21.02583
Annual budget140 billion zł (2022)[1]
Minister responsible
Websitewww.gov.pl/web/national-defence
Logo of the Ministry of National Defence of Poland, from a gift presented by Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz during his visit to Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia on August 29, 2024

The Ministry of National Defence (Polish: Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej [mi.ɲisˈtɛr.stfɔ ɔˈbrɔ.nɘ na.rɔˈdɔ.vɛj], MON [ˈmɔn] ⓘ) is a office of government in Poland headed by the Minister of National Defence. It is responsible for the organisation and management of the Polish Armed Forces. During the Second Polish Republic and World War II it was called the Ministry of Military Affairs (Ministerstwo Spraw Wojskowych). Ministry budget for 2022 was 140 billion PLN.

History

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The beginning of the Ministry of Defence's operations is connected with the 1775 establishment of the Military Department within the Permanent Council. In 1789, the Military Commission of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established, and from the Constitution of 3 May 1791 was under the Guardians of the Laws. Between 1793-94, the department was restored in the Supreme National Council. When Warsaw became part of the Kingdom of Prussia after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795), the Prussian Ministry of War headquarters was moved into the local Copper-Roof Palace.[2] Another War Ministry was established in the Duchy of Warsaw. After the establishment of the Stanisław Małachowski government on 5 October 1807, the War Directorate became the Minister of War.

From 1807 to 1810, the number of ministry officials increased from a dozen to over one hundred. The ministry's activities ceased on 4 May 1813. In 1814, the Military Organizing Committee was established in Paris to regulate the military affairs of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815.[3][4] After the November Uprising and the introduction of the Organic Statute of the Kingdom of Poland in the early 1830s, the distinctiveness of the Polish defence establishment from the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire ceased to exist. On 30 January 1917, the Provisional Council of State created an acting military commission, which was to deal with Polish military matters until a war office was organised.

The main gate to the Ministry of National Defence complex on Klonowa Street.

On 2 November 1918, the commission was transformed into the Ministry of Military Affairs, based at the Copper-Roof Palace.[5] During the London emigration of Polish power during World War II, on November 30, 1942, the name of the Ministry of Military Affairs was changed to the Ministry of National Defence. In 1944, under the Polish Committee of National Liberation under the communists controlled a National Defence Centre to manage the war front. After the war, the Provisional Government of National Unity (TRJN) reestablished the Military Affairs Ministry, which would be replaced by the Ministry of National Defence in 1979 and was under the Polish People's Army (LWP) in the People's Republic of Poland. The ministry would be transferred from the LWP to the Polish Army in 1990.

Organizational structure

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The ministry includes political departments, Cabinet of the Minister and the following organizational units including units P1-P8 forming Polish General Staff:[6][7][8]

  • Operational Centre
  • Administrative Department
  • Budget Department
  • Department of Education, Culture and Heritage
  • Department of Infrastructure
  • Personnel Department
  • Department of Control
  • Department of Cyber Security
  • Department of Protection of Classified Information
  • Department of International Security Policy
  • Armaments Policy Department
  • Law Department
  • Department of Social Affairs
  • Department of Strategy and Defence Planning
  • Department of Military Education
  • Department of Military Health Service
  • Department of Military Foreign Affairs
  • Office of the General Director
  • Office of the Minister of National Defence
  • Offset Contracts Office
  • Management Board of the Organization and Additions (P1)
  • Management of Intelligence and Reconnaissance Intelligence (P2)
  • Armed Forces Planning and Training Management Board (P3/P7)
  • Logistics Management (P4)
  • Management Board of Armed Forces Development Planning and Programming (P5)
  • Management and Command Board (P6)
  • Material Planning Board (P8)
  • Military Information Services
  • Military Intelligence Service

Units subordinate to the MON:

  • Armed Forces General Command
  • Operational Command
  • Support Command
  • Military Gendarmerie
  • Territorial Defence Force
  • Warsaw Garrison Command
  • National Centre for Kryptologii
  • Provincial Military Headquarters
  • Centre of Monitoring and Analysis
  • Inspectorate of Armaments
  • Innovative Defence Technology
  • Inspectorate of Military Fires
  • Military Centre for Standardization, Quality and Codification
  • Military Centre of Metrology
  • National Military Representative to NATO
  • Internal Audit for the Energy Sector
  • Military Technical Supervision
  • Military Studies of Teaching Foreign Languages
  • Central Military-Medical Commission
  • Military Pension Offices
  • House of the Retired Military Personnel (Warsaw)
  • Registration Office of the Polish Army

Ministers

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Second Polish Republic
Polish government-in-exile
Republic of Poland / People's Republic of Poland
Flag of the Polish Minister of National Defence
Third Polish Republic
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death) 		Party Term of Office Prime Minister (Cabinet)
Army General
Florian Siwicki
(1925–2013) 		Independent 12 September 1989 6 July 1990 Tadeusz Mazowiecki Mazowiecki
Vice Admiral
Piotr Kołodziejczyk
(1939–2019) 		Independent 6 July 1990 4 January 1991
4 January 1991 23 December 1991 Jan Krzysztof Bielecki Bielecki
Jan Parys
(born 1950) 		Independent 23 December 1991 23 May 1992 Jan Olszewski Olszewski
Romuald Szeremietiew
(born 1945)
acting 		Independent 23 May 1992 5 June 1992
Janusz Onyszkiewicz
(born 1937) 		UD 11 July 1992 25 October 1993 Hanna Suchocka Suchocka
Piotr Kołodziejczyk
(1939–2019) 		Independent 26 October 1993 10 November 1994 Waldemar Pawlak Pawlak II
Jerzy Milewski
(1935–1997)
acting 		Independent 10 November 1994 7 March 1995
Zbigniew Okoński
(born 1949) 		Independent 7 March 1995 22 December 1995 Józef Oleksy Oleksy
Andrzej Karkoszka
(born 1945)
acting 		Independent 22 December 1995 5 January 1996
Stanisław Dobrzański
(born 1949) 		PSL 5 January 1996 7 February 1996
7 February 1996 31 October 1997 Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz Cimoszewicz
Janusz Onyszkiewicz
(born 1937) 		UW 31 October 1997 16 June 2000 Jerzy Buzek Buzek
Bronisław Komorowski
(born 1952) 		SKL 16 June 2000 19 October 2001
Jerzy Szmajdziński
(1952–2010) 		SLD 19 October 2001 2 May 2004 Leszek Miller Miller
2 May 2004 11 June 2004 Marek Belka Belka I
11 June 2004 31 October 2005 Belka II
Radosław Sikorski
(born 1963) 		PiS 31 October 2005 14 July 2006 Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz Marcinkiewicz
14 July 2006 7 February 2007 Jarosław Kaczyński Kaczyński
Aleksander Szczygło
(1963–2010) 		PiS 7 February 2007 16 November 2007
Bogdan Klich
(born 1960) 		PO 16 November 2007 2 August 2011 Donald Tusk Tusk I
Tomasz Siemoniak
(born 1967) 		PO 2 August 2011 18 November 2011
18 November 2011 22 September 2014 Tusk II
22 September 2014 16 November 2015 Ewa Kopacz Kopacz
Antoni Macierewicz
(born 1948) 		PiS 16 November 2015 11 December 2017 Beata Szydło Szydło
11 December 2017 9 January 2018 Mateusz Morawiecki Morawiecki I
Mariusz Błaszczak
(born 1969) 		PiS 9 January 2018 15 November 2019
15 November 2019 27 November 2023 Morawiecki II
27 November 2023 13 December 2023 Morawiecki III
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz
(born 1981) 		PSL 13 December 2023 Incumbent Donald Tusk Tusk III

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "BASIC INFORMATION ON THE MoND BUDGET FOR 2016" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  2. ^ ""Under the Metal Roof" Palace (Palac Pod Blacha)". www.wiezowce.waw.pl. Archived from the original on 2014-02-04. Retrieved 2009-03-24.
  3. ^ Komisja Rządowa Wojny z lat [1811-1814] 1815-1832 [1833-1866]
  4. ^ Zarys historji wojskowości w Polsce
  5. ^ VII. Narodziny Wojska Polskiego (październik – grudzień 1918) Archived 2015-12-10 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Zarządzenie nr 82 Prezesa Rady Ministrów z dnia 19 grudnia 2014 r. W sprawie nadania statutu Ministerstwu Obrony Narodowej".
  7. ^ "Zarządzenie nr 65 Prezesa Rady Ministrów z dnia 31 maja 2016 r. Zmieniające zarządzenie w sprawie nadania statutu Ministerstwu Obrony Narodowej".
  8. ^ "Zarządzenie nr 22 Prezesa Rady Ministrów z dnia 26 lutego 2018 r. Zmieniające zarządzenie w sprawie nadania statutu Ministerstwu Obrony Narodowej".
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