Aspekty wojskowego wsparcia władz cywilnych w ochronie ludności

The problems of military support for civilian authorities is not new in Polish reality, both in legal and organisational aspects. The only novelty is to use this notion to define phenomena which consist in managing selective military forces to help civilian authorities in national security endeavours which have nothing to do with the defence of the country against a military aggression. Unfortunately, there is no unity of opinions, operational and legislative solutions in perceiving civil defence which is identified with non-military defence by the author. Civil defence as a non-military equivalent of military defence has many essential roles to play in national defence. Its basic tasks are as follows: population protection (in the meaning of civil defence), security and public protection, national reserves creating and protection, safeguarding the government bodies and other public institutions functioning, border protection, support for the armed forces and defence education. The participation of the armed forces in relief work for civilian population, called population protection, is another crucial issue. Thus it is an urgent task to define rules (principles) and procedures to use the armed forces, and also financial and soldiers’ insurance and necessary equipment principles. Also the role of military administration bodies should be defined, in particular the chiefs of voyvodship military staffs, which, according to the author, need to be a key element in the troops command system on the territorial level and also in the system of military threats protection, preparation, reaction and reconstruction.