Today, the priority is clear: a leader should surround himself with experienced, battle-tested people. Warsaw mayor and presidential candidate Rafał Trzaskowski announced a 12-member advisory team focused on security, most of whom hold general ranks.
Security issues have dominated public talk for months, and that emphasis remains on the agenda, Trzaskowski noted on Wednesday.
Trzaskowski described twelve advisers who will help shape a comprehensive security strategy that addresses deterrence, border protection, energy resilience, transport, and military logistics. He said the team brings varied prior roles to the table so Poland’s safety can be managed with a broad, integrated approach.
The emphasis is on governance with seasoned experience and proven battlefield and operational know-how. A person holding state responsibilities should assemble a circle of advisers with greater expertise across different fields, he explained.
He added that several generals on the list were nominated by different presidents, including Lech Kaczyński, Bronisław Komorowski, and Andrzej Duda, underscoring a continuity in state service across administrations.
That continuity, he said, is symbolized by the participation of senior officers who have worked with various defense ministers and held key command roles. He called the arrangement emblematic of the state’s durability and steady leadership.
Trzaskowski advisor
The team includes Katarzyna Pisarska, a professor at SGH and founder of the European Academy of Diplomacy who leads the Warsaw Security Forum and chairs the International Center for the Victory of Ukraine, along with Tadeusz Mikutel, a retired first deputy chief of the general staff and a veteran commander with broad operational experience.
Other advisers include Division General Zbigniew Tłok-Kosowski, a UN peacekeeper on the Golan Heights and a veteran of Kosovo, and General Wiesław Grudziński, former Warsaw Garrison commander and a military historian focused on infrastructure.
Trzaskowski also counts Brigadier Pilot Stefan Rutkowski, among the first Polish MiG-29 pilots to work with NATO, who completed more than 100 flights as part of the Air Policing Mission; Brigadier Maciej Siudak, deputy commander at the NATO Air Operations Command Center in Germany; and Brigadier Sławomir Żakowski, the first Polish pilot to carry out air transport missions for Polish troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Other names on the list include Brigadier Włodzimierz Nowak, the former operational director at the NATO Information and Communication Agency; Lieutenant Colonel Andrzej Wróblewski, deputy commander of GROM and participant in missions in Haiti, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf; Commander Wojciech Sobociński, a Marine officer and submarine specialist; Lieutenant Colonel Krzysztof Przepiórka, a Special Forces soldier and safety expert with service in Lebanon and co-creator of the 2nd GROM Battle Department; Brigadier Przemysław Florczyk, a former deputy director of the National Center for Coordination and Population Protection of KG PSP.
Some advisers spoke publicly during the session with reporters, while others spoke in the closed portion. Pisarska recently attended a Munich safety conference and highlighted ongoing arms investments in Poland and Europe.
She argued for prudent investment in the European arms industry and securing European funds for these purposes.
Siudak stressed that safety goes beyond military strength and depends on the involvement of all institutions and society.
Trzaskowski reaffirmed his stance that Russia should not claim victory in Ukraine. If President Putin can present the result of negotiations as a win, Europe would be less secure, Poland’s safety would be affected, and allied United States security would also be weakened, he warned.
That was the essence of the day’s remarks.