The Safety of Poland in the Context of American Ballistic Missile Defense

Fifteen years ago Poland joined NATO, and ten years ago it became a member of the European Union. Many politicians thought then that in this way we had fulfilled our dreams of returning to Europe and western civilization. However, the safety of a state cannot be taken for granted once and for ever. The country so experienced by the history and with such a location has to monitor the current situation in the world constantly. In the field of the state`s security we must be wiser before the damage is made. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the moment Poland had regained its sovereignty; it had undertaken the effort to „return to Europe”. Polish social and system transformation was not seeking any third, alternative solution. All the significant political groups agreed that Poland was to be a democratic state with a market economy, and strong position within European and Atlantic structures. After relatively short discussion on the military cooperation with the collapsing USSR or daydreaming on setting up so called NATO-bis, we had agreed on applying for the membership in the North Atlantic Treaty. This strategic direction of safety perception had been determined by the government of Jan Olszewski, in which the post of the Minister of Defense was held by Jan Parys Ph.D., currently the Rector of KJ-TSW. The NATO membership was considered in Poland to guarantee both the safety of our borders and the stability of system and economy transformation. The Treaty was perceived as the efficient organization of the collective defense, which had greatly contributed to the several decades of peace in Europe, as an institution setting the standards of civilian and military cooperation in a democratic state, as well as the instrument of creating peaceful international relations between the neighboring regions of the world.