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Expert Analyses

Speech of Antoni Macierewicz, Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Poland

Report on the state of public affairs and state institutions as of the end of PO-PSL coalition rule (2007-2015), delivered on May 11, 2016 in Parliament (Sejm). 

 

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Mr. Speaker! Mrs. Prime Minister! Members of the House! Ladies and Gentlemen! It so happens that today I will be the last speaker, thus concluding the presentation of the sad state in which we find our Republic after eight years of rule by the Civic Platform Party (PO) and the Polish Peasant Party (PSL). In some aspects, and the army is definitely one of them and certainly our Armed Forces are as well, after the extensive and long term of domination by just one political group, which historically has called itself different names, such as after the round table session, yet always consisted of the same people who always approached the Armed Forces, national security, the Polish Army and Polish independence in the same way. If today I come up as the very last one in the line-up, I think that it is also because the political community to which I make reference always treated the Polish Armed Forces as a last priority, treated it as the worst in all areas and aspects of Polish political life. They became famous for the destruction of the Polish Armed Forces, for the waste in the Polish Armed Forces, for the corruption and demoralization in the Polish Armed Forces, and finally they left behind a bad legacy and reputation.

When we took over the government, i.e. when in the fall of 2015 I came to the Ministry of National Defense, the Polish Armed Forces did not have the means to ensure the security of either the entirety of the territory of the Polish Republic, nor of the national air space, nor of objects critical for control of the state, nor of cyberspace. In terms of security of the national territory, they were able to conduct only limited activities to delay the offensive of a potential aggressor.

No political or technical guarantee was provided, no means in case of aggression to obtain substantive help from allied countries or from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in time to reorganize the defense system and mount a combined defense counteroffensive. Even worse, more has been done to the detriment of the Republic. Relocation of Polish troops to the western border as if it is from there that the greatest threat will come, thus leaving the eastern flank completely defenseless, and the withdrawal of garrisons leaving the Polish population in a situation of increasing concern about its future. Members of the House! The evidence which I will now present is limited to only a few examples.

It is not comprehensive but only represents the state of the Polish Armed Forces. I do so not out of an exceptional feeling of mercy for the Civic Platform, you deserve the criticism, but because many of you actually deserve penal consequences for what you have done. I do so in the interest of the Polish state, to show the entire situation in which I found the Armed Forces, which could actually undermine the interests of the Polish on the world stage. Yes, it was that wrong. At the same time, I want to say that in all these cases, corrective actions have already been taken, and I will be presenting these embarrassing and shameful facts for Poland – yes, unfortunately for Poland and not only for the perpetrators, but also for our whole country – only in the cases where corrective action has been taken and where I can safely say that a threat no longer exists. Where did this attitude towards the Polish Armed Forces come from? I will not reach for deeper origins, those contained in the round table talks and the fate and history of many of these people. But where did it come from in recent years? Well, this was due to the adoption by every post-2007 Minister of Defense of an erroneous assessment of the true intentions of the Russian Federation with respect to Poland and other European countries. The result of this evaluation was the thesis contained in the main directive for the development of the national security system set by the former president, Bronisław Komorowski. This thesis stated that the threat to Poland in the form of a large armed conflict in Central and Eastern Europe in the next 20 years is and will remain highly unlikely. In Europe, there will be no war, and certainly not as a result of aggression or actions conducted by the Russian Federation. This document, known as the White Ledger, stating the official stance of Minister Siemoniak as head of the Armed Forces as well as all those responsible for the security of the Polish state, was published just two months before Russian aggression in Ukraine.

What has Poland done to you that you left her so vulnerable? What happened in the Armed Forces? What were you thinking when everything pointed to an approaching, even worse conflict, the greatest danger, the greatest threat to our country, and you were singing the praises of security assurances from the Russian side, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in your government stated that Russia will soon become a member of NATO. What happened to your heads that you spoke such nonsense? Planning for the development of the Armed Forces was based on a fixed number of battalions capable of directly leading a defensive operation. At the same time, not taken into account was either data on the potential growth of the hypothetical enemy’s capabilities nor the issue of recovery of losses during the course of any defensive action. It is difficult to call such planning simple incompetence. This was a conscious action to the detriment of the Polish state.

While financing the Armed Forces from 2008 to 2015, there was a systematic violation of the directive adopted in the Act of 2001, i.e. the commitment to spend 1.95% of Gross Domestic Product on defense. Yet, during the rule of the Civic Platform and the Polish Peasant Party, the level of financing for national defense ranged from 1.69% to 1.93% of GDP. Not even once did it reach the mandatory statutory rate of 1.95%. You broke the law systematically, endangering the security of the Polish state. Honorable Members, during the years 2010-2015, we spent 50 billion PLN on the implementation of the development plan for the Armed Forces, yet none of the programs on which this 50 billion PLN was spent has been completed to this day. None of the programs on which PO-PSL spent enormous amounts of money was ever completed. What happened to that money – I ask those from the Civic Platform and the Polish Peasant Party – to where did the 50 billion PLN disappear? Let me add that from this sum only 2 billion PLN per year flowed into Polish enterprises, all of the rest went to foreign companies.

All of the rest financed the economic growth, prevented unemployment, prevented the problems of social and economic life in other countries, other states, countries so poor and so in need of our support as Germany, France and others because they needed help, they needed the outstretched hand of the Polish taxpayer, and you handed over the people’s taxes.

Due to the decisions of Minister Klich and Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, procedures for purchasing armaments and military equipment were established supposedly to ensure – and the public was assured of it – transparency in public spending. In fact, these procedures were the instrument of a conscious and deliberate cover-up to hide all traces and to minimize the responsibility of the people planning and executing the procurement.

Adopted by the Council of Ministers in 2009, then modified in 2013 and 2014, the program of technical modernization of the Armed Forces, Honorable Members, misled the public from the beginning, and this is the most delicate terminology which I can use in this case. Over 10 years, it anticipated implementing 14 operational programs for which 91 billion PLN was initially allocated. Through these programs, we planned to acquire state-of-the-art weaponry and military equipment. However, the Supreme Control Chamber calculated the actual cost of the purchases included in the program at 235 billion PLN, and that is without operational costs.

To sum up, from the beginning, it was clear that the whole program was unrealistic, it would never be executed, you could not complete it with this amount of money, because the sum budgeted for its implementation was more than three times less. You did not know this, Mr. Minister? Didn’t the leaders from PO and SLD (Democratic Left Alliance Party), oh, excuse me, PSL know? Let me apologize to SLD in this case. This is the first time in my life that I will apologize to SLD, but in this case even SLD should receive an apology.

So the government program included only a small part of the necessary expenses. For example, in the context of the modernization of the Armed and Mechanized Forces, money destined for real and predictable modernization accounted for only 10% of the amount required to implement the approved plans – 10% of the amount for the modernization of the Armed and Mechanized Forces. How then were we to defend ourselves, how were Polish armed forces to be upgraded if you were outright deceiving the public, our allies, and above all the military and soldiers, deceiving them with trinkets, convincing them that there would be money, all the while knowing that it would not be there, knowing that the whole time?

In this way, the modernization program became a program to of preying on budget appropriations. The amount of 91 billion PLN was guaranteed, but this spending in any case was not and could not be assured, and could not bring about the indicated and much-touted technological leap within the range of weapons used by the Armed Forces. So the amount spent did not bring, which was obvious, the expected increase in the production potential of the Polish defense industry. I repeat once again this disparity: out of 50 billion PLN, Polish companies were getting only 2 billion PLN per year. The rest went elsewhere.

We can recall only some of the most drastic examples of the lack of frugality in the procurement of armaments and military equipment. Within the scope of the program “Combatting Threats at Sea”, you, gentlemen, were financing the construction of the Gawron corvette, which claimed a total of over 1 billion PLN over 15 years.

On the basis of a constructed hull, it was decided in 2012 – I understand Minister Siemoniak made this decision – to build a patrol ship “The Silesian”, which was never completed. And now nobody knows what to do with that hull and how to further deal with your mismanagement, which should really be called acting to the detriment of the Polish state.

Despite the steady supply of the Naval Shipyard in Gdynia with funds intended for the construction of the corvette, let us repeat 1 billion PLN, there was no initiative taken to prepare a recovery program for the shipyard submerged in crisis, and instead it went into bankruptcy. Thanks to Prime Minister Morawiecki, I was able to hold back the situation in recent days. And fortunately I managed to halt the process. Once again, I would like to thank Prime Minister Morawiecki for his help.

In terms of the modernization of the Armed and Mechanized Forces, the decision was made to discontinue development work on the modernization of the T-91 tanks and instead to acquire used Leopard tanks from the Bundeswehr surplus. In November 2013, we entered an agreement to make another purchase of tanks without preparing a plan for the necessary overhaul and modernization of these used machines. Concluding that contract, it was neglected to acquire the technical documentation for these tanks. Also, no possibility was provided to execute agreed-upon penalties for delays arising during the course of the contract. Has any of the MPs ever seen such an agreement, a multi-year agreement, which does not stipulate penalties for failure to meet the deadline of its implementation?

Has anyone ever seen such a contract, which does not provide technical documentation for such complex equipment? Really, Mr. Minister, I throw my hands up in the air. This resulted in the loss of a significant part of the technical capacity of the national defense industry, delaying the start of repair and modernization work by two years, and caused the need to spend the amount of 2.4 billion PLN on them, whereas the initial amount planned was for approximately 1 billion PLN. The losses of the Polish state as a result of your actions, just only in this one case, and even taking into account that it was the right decision, that the Polish equipment was not eligible for upgrade, so even accepting this false premise, it is nearly 1.5 billion PLN only on this one issue.

The best example of absurdity and waste associated with the acquisition of new equipment is with the production of a truly modern mortar, at a cost of 1,100 million PLN, whereas due to the decision of Minister Siemoniak we have abandoned production of ammunition for this equipment at this point. Therefore, now we have an excellent mortar, but without the ammunition, because there is no available ammunition for it anywhere in the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen! I appeal to those of you who remember school lectures from your youth because only the works of Slawomir Mrozek can prepare you for such absurd activities, where splendid factories produce trendy left shoes. And accordingly, you have so mistreated the Polish Army, so mistreated the Armed Forces, and so mistreated the citizens of our Republic and our security. You created a great trinket, only that it was made from tombak and was empty inside. They were purchased at an enormous cost, with great effort, yet still are not fully Polish property – the “Wolverine” wheeled armored personnel carriers. They have excellent reviews, soldiers also consider them to be excellent vehicles. For 3 years, 200 units remain idle because you have not provided for the purchase of an onboard communications system and they are still missing it. For 3 years, there are 200 armored personnel carriers that rust and deteriorate, while the Polish army waits for them. Why do they deteriorate and rust? Why did you not provide it? Because the two major gangs, two criminal lobbies within your military structures, argue over which one of them is to complete the communications system. You were not able to resolve this dispute between the lobbies.

Since it is not clear to Mr. Tomasz Siemoniak what happened next, I am here to inform you that this matter has already been decided, and neither of these lobbies will get the contract. At the same time, some entrepreneurs were granted advance payments totaling nearly 5 billion PLN, whose actual use has never been audited. Mainly deliveries, scheduled for subsequent years, were prepaid. A prepayment mechanism was used, giving the impression of spending at levels closer to those allocated in the budget for the modernization of the Armed Forces. In fact, they financed acquaintances and friends. To date, the money has been neither used nor returned.

At the same time, they withheld purchases truly vital for the Polish Armed Forces, for example, purchases for military radio systems, which are not equipped with mobile communications nodes or with the command post for missile squadrons. The conclusions of the Operational Command on the purchase of that equipment from March to November 2015 have not been considered by the Ministry of Defense at all. Perhaps they got lost somewhere in this gigantic bureaucracy, which will be discussed later, and have not reached the desk of Minister Siemoniak. The magnitude of delays in implementing these programs risks an accumulation of necessary expenses in the years 2017-2020 and beyond, and thus may actually threaten the state and the stability of the government’s finances in subsequent years.

You have allowed the Polish export of arms to collapse, whereas in the State Government Strategy, it is projected that the average performance of Polish arms export will be at 2 billion PLN. In fact, you achieved an average of 160 million PLN, which is more than twenty times less. You have attained export potential more than twenty times smaller than what you projected. What was the main cause of these pathologies? I have already spoken a little about it, but we need to dot the final “i”, as you like to do.

The main reason for the pathology was that during the term of power of the PO-PSL coalition, there emerged and functioned in an uninterrupted way, corrupt connections linking politicians with management in the ministry and the command of the Armed Forces, and also with entrepreneurs and lobbyists from foreign companies, often operating under the influence of foreign services, special services. This network also reached key government officials and the management of arms companies. From the account of the main company involved, Bumar, some 13 million dollars was paid in undue commissions to the famous Qatari investor El-Assir.

Maybe some of you have heard of him, but I doubt it, because I think Mr. Grad has not been elected. This happened at the same time when the prosecutor’s office conducted an investigation into activities causing damage to the company, making allegations against the guilty ones. During this period, it was Mr. Grad who was responsible for the Ministry of the Treasury. I know that relative to the billions we discussed, this 13 million dollars is a relatively modest amount.

I understand your point of view on this, but you have been cheating Poland for years. It had to wait for the Qatari investor, and he got his $13 million, and he really had no reason to come here.

In the course of conducting the audit work, we found activities performed by the ministers of national defense that virtually were undermining Polish cooperation with NATO. One such action was assigning to NATO forces units lacking the basic means of combat. Units which were simply inadequate were sent on NATO missions. I do not know if they wanted to punish the soldiers who went there or whether they wanted to fool NATO. I do not know, instead I will let you draw your own conclusions. For example, a squadron of armour-piercing helicopters which was entirely devoid of antitank guided missiles was selected for such missions. What was the point of reference? What was that all about? Why was it done? It is hard to understand. Just as it is difficult to understand why a missile frigate with a malfunctioning rocket launcher was selected, and the weapons control system on that frigate had long been unused because it was simply good for nothing.

Particularly scandalous was the preparation and submittal of a report in August 2015 to the Council of Ministers expressing the negative position of the Ministry of Defense on the subject of holding joint allied exercises in crisis management on Polish territory. The goal of these exercises was to test interoperability with the allies in case of potential Russian aggression. These were very important exercises. How to check how NATO forces and Polish forces work together? This is one of the most important things that needs to be done. But you have refused to carry out these exercises. Why? Well, the management of the Ministry of Defense questioned the presumed scenario of the exercises because it foresaw that during its course we would be able to appeal to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, and you were afraid that this would upset Russia. And because of that, we will not train with NATO. We will not because Russia would not like it. How to approach such a position? It was the fall of 2015. At that time, you gave up examining the possibilities of cooperation between Polish troops and NATO forces for fear that Russia would be upset. Well, maybe it is better not to practice at all and completely eliminate the army. Then Russia would be delighted. Absolutely.

For the same reasons, you refused the participation of Polish soldiers in training exercises provided for the Ukrainian army in 2015 in Jaworow by the armed forces of the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. Why did you do that? Why cannot Polish soldiers practice in Jaworow with soldiers from the United States and Ukraine? Well, because you thought that the Russian Federation would not like it.

Is this really the main point of reference in modeling, shaping and preparing the Polish Armed Forces? Against whom do you want to defend yourselves? So who threatens Poland if it is not allowed to upset the Russian Federation, and we cannot in any way train defensively against it?

Preparations for the NATO summit in Warsaw were neglected. During the summit in Newport in 2014, it was determined that Warsaw would be the location for the next meeting of the heads of NATO states. From that moment, virtually no progress was made related to the organization of this summit: a task force within the Ministry of Defense was not set up, a contract was not signed to reserve the National Stadium for the summit enabling proper adaptation of the venue, no public proceedings started to procure the necessary equipment. Negligence in these areas threatened proper organization of the summit, and even though the Civic Platform is to blame, its politicians to this day try to shift the blame and use it against the government of the Law and Justice Party. Despite the official communication, which was recently sent from the White House confirming that President Obama will participate in the summit, you continue to repeat this rumor, which is, in fact, Russian propaganda, that Mr. Obama will not be present at the Polish summit, because this was your aim and your intention from the moment when the Law and Justice took over the government.

There were no attempts to counter the propaganda activities of Russian agents who inundated national websites with content aiming to undermine the sense of strategic cooperation with the United States of America. Favored was pro-Russian propaganda for the rehabilitation of cooperation with Soviet military intelligence GRU and KGB, forming the basis for training and education of soldiers in Poland under the dictation of former officers of Soviet special services. A prime example of this was entrusting the development of human resources of the Polish Army to a former executive officer of the Military Internal Service directly derived from the Soviet apparatus, and such a person was appointed rector-commandant of the National Defense Academy. So that was the way you wanted to shape the future of Polish military personnel.

Activities to explain the reasons for the crash of the Polish airplane TU-154 at Smolensk on April 10, 2010 have been carried out in such a manner so as to prevent the actual determination of the causes and course of events and even to support the Russian disinformation operation in this regard. Such disinformation activities designed to prevent examination of the course of events were conducted by both the Military Intelligence Service and the Military Counterintelligence Service and the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office, but unfortunately, this campaign was conducted by a part of the leadership cadre which did not have the courage to stand up for its president, nor for its chief of staff, nor for its commanders of various types of the Armed Forces, who were killed at Smolensk. The Military Counterintelligence Service and the Military Intelligence Service have not made any analysis of the available information on the Smolensk disaster. Minister Kaminski spoke about it in a clear, unambiguous manner, which I hope was shocking even to your conscience. Among other things, these services have provided the prosecutor’s office with the data in their possession but in such a manner that you cannot glean their true value and the actual content. Key documents were hidden, including those relating to the trajectory of the TU-154 aircraft in the final phase of flight.

These documents exist in the Ministry of National Defense, but you have not transferred them to the prosecutor’s office. You not only hid them from the public, you not only lied to everyone in Poland and abroad, but you also have not transferred them to the prosecutor’s office. Services took an active role in the falsification and concealment of information. Hidden in the same way was the consent of April 15 – a record of this event does exist – whereby the Russians would not examine the remains of the victims, concealed as well was information that flowed to the Ministry of National Defense since September 2010 that the bodies of the victims had been switched. For nearly two years, you lied to the public about this case. SKW (Military Counterintelligence Service) management tried to hide part of the documentation associated with this case in the framework of the NATO Counterintelligence Experts Center which was created at the end of 2014. The center itself has been organized through abuse of Alliance trust and with the aim of establishing a center exempt from Polish state supervision. This was supposed to be territory and an institution not subordinated to the Polish state, but for a hefty fee, its bosses received more than 20 thousand PLN per month. It is not that much, I agree, but it is a payment that prompted them to take up this task.

In an unlawful and unfounded way, the Military Counterintelligence Service has put under surveillance more than 20 opposition politicians, including – indeed, Ladies and Gentlemen, I think you know this – former Prime Minister Jan Olszewski who has been inactive, both publicly and politically, for a long time. Why have you undertaken surveillance of this man? Why was that? What was it for? What was the purpose, and how was this to be advantageous? And the same goes for journalists from, among others, the editorial board of Polish Television, the newspapers “Gazeta Polska” and “Nasz Dziennik”, Catholic radio station “Radio Maryja” and Catholic TV station “Telewizja Trwam”, as well as employees of the Chancellery of President Lech Kaczyński, parliamentary offices and law firms. Material was collected with the evident purpose of determining the relationship of the people under surveillance, although they were not and could not be related to the types of operations normally conducted by the Military Counterintelligence Service. Do you really think that Prime Minister Jan Olszewski could in any way be a man suspected of acting against the Polish state? Really?

But it was inspired by these people, in particular through the initiative of Prosecutor Colonel Ryszard Parulski, and the Military Counterintelligence Service undertook activities aimed at establishing the contacts, including billing analyses and phone calls, and the acquaintances and environment of prosecutor Marek Pasionek, simply because during the course of the Smolensk investigation, he had turned to the United States of America asking for information American services might have on this terrible disaster. That is why you have put this courageous and righteous attorney under surveillance? This is a disgrace! For the fact that someone wanted to do something for Poland, you have persecuted him, while you have awarded promotions to those who failed to ensure the security of the president. This is your morality. These are your values. In the spring of 2010, without the consent of Polish authorities, the Military Counterintelligence Service – here you see and can take a look at the state officers: generals, colonels – cooperated with the Russian Federal Security Service, without the consent of Polish authorities, without the legally required consent of Polish authorities.

They started cooperation through communication and information exchange. As stated in the contract, which was signed, the cooperation concerned the area of military counter-intelligence in the interest of military cooperation safety. Just weeks after the Smolensk drama, you assured the safety of military cooperation with the Russian Federation, allowing Russian Federation officers to penetrate Polish security systems. They were even allowed access to the local bodies of the Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW). They were treated with dinners and receptions, they were shown around the place, they were shown capabilities. But this was reciprocal. That’s right. The highest ranking SKW officers went to St. Petersburg and Moscow, took pictures of themselves with the “Aurora” ship in the background, and promoted the symbol of the Soviet revolution, which criminally led to the murder of millions of people. Yes, you promote the “Aurora” on your hats. This is your approach to international relations.

We respect all countries, including the Russian state, but promoting the symbols of Soviet violence is a thing unworthy of a Polish officer. Perhaps I need to make one more remark in connection with Prosecutor Parulski. I think that this is an important thing. The matter of selecting military prosecutors to investigate the Smolensk crash requires separate analysis, it is indisputable, but particularly concerning are the actions of Prosecutor Colonel Ryszard Parulski. In some cases, there are indications that those selected were – perhaps he did it, although it is the responsibility of the Minister of National Defense also in that legal system – individuals, military prosecutors, who had previously proven themselves by their willingness to pass over lightly and ignore crimes affecting the national security of the Polish state. This applies to at least one of the chief prosecutors in the investigation of the Smolensk catastrophe, who had already previously discontinued proceedings into the falsification by soldiers of the Military Information Services (WSI) of dozens of certificates enabling access to top secret information. This prosecutor was notified of the forgery of dozens of such certificates by WSI soldiers , and he discontinued the investigation. Do you know why he suppressed it? Because he decided that this was a low level offense, numerous instances of fraudulent access to top secret information.

Later on, the officers having those [forged] certificates were sent to NATO, were sent to the Headquarters, were sent to the attaché offices and represented the Polish state, and had access to top secret NATO information. Then the communist journalists said how wonderful these people are, despite being communist, even with a communist background, but NATO believes them. It is not NATO that believed them. It is not NATO that believed, it was us who lied to NATO, and more precisely the SLD-PSL coalition. Again I was wrong? You see for yourselves. I apologize to SLD for the second time. The above-mentioned facts, ascertained during the course of the audit work, complete the picture of the degradation of the Polish state’s ability to remain sovereign against Russian pressure. What still remains to be determined is to what extent this was the result of conscious decisions of a political nature, because maybe it was just stupidity, which cannot be ruled out.

On the initiative of the former president, Bronislaw Komorowski, back in 2014, a change was made to the system of control and command of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, which, despite two years of implementation, has not brought order to the system of commanding the Armed Forces, but rather the opposite. It has become the cause of confusion in the division of powers between commanding authorities and caused a lack of unity in commanding, many real losses, and chaos in the Polish army. It was the same with the so-called professionalization of military service. It not only brought about an actual reduction of the personnel in the main segments of the Armed Forces, but also significantly reduced the possibility of replenishment of reserves. As a result, it led to a situation where Poland has one of Europe’s lowest rates for possible mobilization of reserves.

Prior to the decision you made, the Armed Forces had been able to enlist for training from 45 to 60 thousand reserves annually. After your reform, called up to train were only, at most, 15 thousand people because it was not possible to train more. This is as much as Estonia, a country 30 times smaller than Poland, enlists. 15 thousand reserves instead of 60 thousand. Through the end of the period covered by the audit, despite rising staff shortages in units, maintained was a 12-year term for professional soldiers in the rank of private to remain in service. At the same time, no limits were set for enlisting people willing to go for professional service. I want you to have clarity. I appeal to members of PO and PSL, those who are perhaps not aware of it, who maybe have not gone into the intricacies of the military system and did not know it.

Medical commissions. Soldiers have qualified more than 82% of applicants signing up for military training, but less than 50%, were accepted, not for health reasons, but because they did not want to train more. For this reason. There were to be fewer soldiers, fewer young people who are trained, a smaller military, less defense and less patriotism in Poland. So that was the philosophy of the Civic Platform Party in the area of national security.

The air defense system of the country has been kept in a state of critically low capability to act, but before we continue, let me say one more thing. Maybe because I’m so associated with this program, I skipped this issue, but it must be said. Prior to your taking power, there were plans to establish territorial defense of the country. Moreover, actual trials were undertaken, and the first projects associated with it. But you had everything liquidated completely so that now we have to rebuild the country’s entire territorial defense. Maybe it’s better because we do not repeat your forgeries and errors, and thanks to patriotic young people, thanks to the support of the political environment that understands the need for Polish security, the territorial defense of the country will be organized already this year.

I started talking about the national air defense system. Let us expand on this issue now because it is quite dramatic. Widespread cases of low-flying objects crossing Polish air space were observed visually but undetected by radar recognition. Reports left from your term concluded that it was a great achievement to observe visually foreign aircraft breaching the border, since you liquidated all electronic systems to detect these objects. More happened and even more dramatically, namely radar recognition was directed in accordance with and as a result of your decision, i.e. on the basis of the directive, which requires that only those objects flying higher than 3 thousand meters above the ground be detected. That was the directive.

I cannot answer these questions, the obvious questions that spring to mind. I do not understand this because very often insults are hurled, of which you are masters, various allegations against members of the Law and Justice Party, and against me personally, but what to call such a directive which requires detection of objects flying only over 3 thousand meters? Haven’t you heard of drones? Is it a secret? Haven’t you heard of low altitude self-steering rockets? Don’t you know what contemporary threats look like? Let me repeat, it is difficult to understand.

Foreign instructors involved in the training of Polish pilots, including for cutting-edge aircraft, confirmed the growing chaos in the system of training and its worsening results.

Let me skip over a more precise enumeration of the deficiencies, errors and deliberate omissions that as part of this training have been detected by the mission of international observers. Those from the National Defense Committee know this list because I thought that within the framework of that meeting which was covered by state secrecy, I could provide a complete account. Here, as today’s meeting is of a different nature, I will omit it because actually not only it is embarrassing for us, but it may also undermine our allies’ faith in our capabilities. Fortunately, this issue has now been eliminated also. And even about you, I do not want to speak too poorly.

One example of the most blatant negligence is that only 1/3 of the soldiers, 1/3 of Polish soldiers is equipped with war stocks of individual packages for medical protection. In any case, 2/3 of the soldiers would probably not be exposed to any problems in the event of a conflict, because there will be no conflict, because there will be no war, so why is there need for such stocks? A full war inventory has not been secured in other categories of materials either. Even worse was keeping up current inventories.

For example, in the field of guided missiles, the inventory is 17%. I found this inventory when I came to the Ministry. Other types of missiles – though they will not be specified for understandable reasons – 9%. Shells – 35%. Measures to combat the most modern aircraft with one of the same type – 45%. In another case – only 7%. These are all figures showing the mismanagement of Polish taxpayer money. To this day, we are paying off the implementation of this aircraft program. To this day, we are paying it off, and you did not look after the basic means of destruction. But you have spent 250 million dollars, 250 million dollars on the most modern rockets. Great, we are pleased with this, it is good, though I am criticized for the acquisition of these missiles, but it was you who signed this contract, and you did not care at all about the infrastructure for these rockets. You have not provided the basic means,. You buy trinkets, which then necessarily must only lay idle and wait to be used when twice as much money has been paid, so they can finally be used. That is how your orders look. Trinkets, tombak, frivolity and waste of Polish money.

The gradual decrease in the level of munitions stocks for post-Soviet aircraft and rockets did not result in you making any decisions on how to replace them with other means. At the same time, complete replacement of Soviet equipment was delayed and instead reinforcement with local or Western equipment was employed. The current protection status of munitions of the whole army has been kept at an abnormally low level. In some categories of critical munitions, the level was at 10%. And some of you are wondering where these precise numbers and data come from, how it happened, how can I precisely tell you about any kind of weapon, here is my answer: it is not just work done by the control system that I launched. It is primarily the work of the Supreme Control Chamber.

The inventory reporting system favored an evident falsification affecting not only the leadership of the Ministry but the commanders of frontline units, who were systematically lied to with overstatements of the amount of materials and weapons allegedly available in time of war. But there were no weapons, and no such stocks. You issued certificates to commanders stating that they would be able to have such stocks, whereas there were 5%, 10%, 15% at best. You were deliberately misleading commanders. Why did this happen? Why were you doing this? I do not understand.

Significant negligence was found in terms of upgrading service and repair of combat equipment, including the fact that nearly half of the registered mobile service and repair units functioned regardless of total exhaustion in terms of service life (TBO – Time Between Overhaul). Armed Forces were not provided with reconnaissance and electronic warfare capability: key on the modern battlefield, postponing acquisition of the right equipment until after 2020. Then, according to you, we will be able to acquire this equipment.

The state of the technical efficiency of weapons and equipment was kept at an abnormally low level despite the General Command having declared a 96-percent level of efficiency in one of the main means of armored combat. One of the main means of armored combat – again, out of pity, I will not mention which one is in question. In fact, in November 2015 in the case of this particular kind of combat means, the real efficiency was below 50% of combat vehicles. Less than 50% of combat vehicles.

No action was taken after determining that an unknown third party had taken possession of 10 thousand cell phone numbers used by Polish Armed Forces. Someone in the world has acquired the mobile numbers of virtually all or a vast part of the Polish Armed Forces. You have not taken any action, even the smallest.

Despite the Ministry of National Defense and Armed Forces having their own staff with sufficient IT skills, contracts with external companies were signed – it is the famous outsourcing, as you know – for the provision of support services costing – peanuts – 590 PLN and more per hour. We as taxpayers were paying for information technology staff, IT staff dealt with the indicated programs, and simultaneously hired were acquaintances and friends for 590 PLN per hour. This is a system which can bring even the richest country to ruin.

Ascertained was the lack of proper supervision of military hospitals, which for years could not balance their finances, and to cover their losses, incurred debts at, among others, quasi-banks. This is reminiscent of the 80s when the commander or superior of commanders engaged in financing or depositing money at quasi-banks and financial / credit entities of dubious reputation.

It was found that disgraced officers with long-term service in the former WSI (Military Information Services) were given jobs in management positions in the Armed Forces, Ministry of National Defense and subordinated academic and foreign institutions.

Despite having driven out from the Ministry structure organizational units, which were transformed into independent inspectorates and which were already outside the Ministry structure, the ministerial clerical staff significantly increased and grew. In 2008-2015, the employment of civilian office clerks at the Ministry of National Defense increased by over 16%. To key command positions were appointed officers with questionable qualifications. We found numerous cases of careers without substantive justification coming from former WSI officers and the political division of the communist Polish People’s Army. Within the Armed Forces, 87 generals and 1,500 colonels served. Of this number, more than 50% – 774 worked in the Ministry of National Defense instead of in frontline military units preparing to defend the country. Of the 1,500 colonels, 774 were employed in the Ministry of National Defense.

The implementation of the Act of October 18, 2006 which dealt with the disclosure of information about documents from state security agencies from the years 1944-1990 was sabotaged.

To the Institute of National Remembrance there have never been submitted, until my coming to the Ministry, 683 out of 1,500 statements made by obliged professional soldiers. I repeat once again: out of 1,500 statements that should be submitted, 683 were never transferred to the Institute of National Remembrance, even though it is a statutory requirement, and I do not think that the Minister of National Defense did not know that almost half of his subordinate officers were in such a situation.

In Warsaw alone, the military through the Military Property Agency in just the one district of Wola is in possession of over 45 hectares of land free for development. One could build houses for Warsaw residents who need their own homes, just like air to breathe. But, Gentlemen, you have possession of these areas, have kept these locations for unknown reasons. There is nothing going on except that perhaps developers may benefit from this situation. 45 hectares in only one district, in the possession of a military subordinate institution, subordinate management, sorry, not the military, I do not want to offend or insult the army because it would not be right, but in the possession of the leadership of the Ministry of National Defense.

In the years 2008-2015, the Ministry of National Defense concluded long-term mandatory contracts with people from the political environment of ministers. During the course of the audit, we found no documentation proving what type of studies they had conducted for the needs of the Minister of National Defense, and not much was paid, just 1 million PLN.

It is not so terribly much. One general – 200 thousand PLN, the second, a former minister – 290 thousand PLN, the former deputy head of the National Security Bureau, based on your concession – only 336 thousand PLN, but maybe because he was accused in one of the military scandals, that is why he has received more.

There were assigned credit cards with unjustified, very high spending limits of more than 30 thousand PLN per month, with which people were buying alcohol, groceries, paying for meals, business meetings, etc. Again, I will not mention names, but why did this happen, why is this the case, that all of them are former senior officials of WSI whom you placed in extremely lucrative positions in Poland and abroad? Why is this the case? Some buddy buddy.

Bypassing the Military Property Agency which is responsible for the management of assets unnecessary for the needs of the Armed Forces, some post-military property was handed over free of charge to foundations and associations, which then sold it. This is millions of Polish Zloty. It’s millions that were given out lightly.

From 2012 onwards, the leadership of the Military Property Agency has been selling residential and business premises, which were generating significant revenues from rents. These revenues were decreased to the detriment of the Army and the Treasury by nearly 60 million PLN per year. At the same time, they adopted an unjustified selling practice of spreading out payments into interest-free installments, sometimes lower than the current rental rate.

Defense ministers have neglected the statutory obligation of ensuring appropriate conditions for securing perpetual storage and sharing of scientific archives, especially those that are related to the glorious past and the history of the Polish Army. This applies in particular to the manuscripts of Marshal Józef Pilsudski, the Legions, the Battle of Warsaw of 1920, etc. All of these documents, and this is some 4,300 linear meters, have rotted and molded after being deprived of proper care and security. 4,300 linear meters of the most valuable documents for the Polish Army and Polish military history, the pride of the Polish Army, grows mold and rot because you had money for everything else but just not for this, to protect the memory of the glorious history of the Polish Army.

In the years 2010-2015, the office of the Minister of National Defense spent more than 30 million PLN on promotional activities, many of which turned out to be completely ineffective. These were various and numerous projects, but one of them I would like to describe more specifically, and even demonstrate if possible, its exemplification.

Please, because it has to do with … There is already an order here in this matter, so I will …

Here, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have the Mendeleev periodic tables, a very important study aid. You can show it higher, right? Do you know how many of these were gathered in the basement of Minister of National Defense, Mr. Siemoniak? Some 30 thousand such tables are sitting there, I repeat 30 thousand. Well, I want to say, because Minister Zalewska herself ordered it, that we will forward them for the needs of Polish schools and the needs of uniformed classes. In this way, the actions of Minister Siemoniak can finally be found useful by someone in Poland.

This is an aspect which I wanted to bring up at the end, which has an element of humor. But the whole picture of what has been done with the Polish Army is tragic, not humorous. And only thanks to the Poles who have chosen the patriotic covenant, the Law and Justice Party, do we have a chance that the Polish Army will return to the Polish borders and that the strength of Poland’s arsenal and alliances, which sustain our capabilities, will guarantee security and independence for Poles.

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1 comment

Ukraine Poland NATO SITREP July 2, 2016 by Scott | The Vineyard of the Saker July 3, 2016 at 7:01 am

[…] Report on the state of public affairs and state institutions as of the end of PO-PSL coalition rule (2007-2015), delivered on May 11, 2016 in Parliament (Sejm) […]

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