International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The second decade of the 21st century brought Poland a range of complex challenges in the field of national and international security. Key factors included shifts in the geopolitical environment following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014, increased NATO activity on the eastern flank, and the growing importance of hybrid, cyber, and energy-related threats. Poland also faced the need to modernize its armed forces and strengthen state resilience to migration and information crises. The paper analyses the main directions of these challenges and presents the measures undertaken in response, highlighting Poland’s role as a key security actor in the Central and Eastern European region.

The key role of the United States in Polish security policy makes the Polish authorities strive for possibly close allied relations with the US. In order to consolidate the allied bond and increase the defense and deterrence capabilities against Russia, Poland proposed building a permanent base for the US Armed Forces on its territory in the strength of a division. This project was too ambitious and for this reason it was impossible to implement in the current political and military conditions. The main reason was the concern about escalating tensions on the NATO-Russia line. There was also no inter-alliance agreement around the project, and some NATO countries openly opposed the “Fort Trump” concept. Experts were not convinced that the permanent stationing of a large group of American forces in Poland would be the most effective solution to the current threats. For these reasons, “Fort Trump” was not created, and the decisions made to increase the American military presence in Poland were much less ambitious than the proposals and expectations of the Polish authorities.