Polish Army to Help Protect Critical Energy Infrastructure

The Polish Armed Forces will take part in protecting the country’s critical energy infrastructure amid growing security threats.

The army’s press service announced this on its website the day before.

The agreement between the General Staff and the state electricity transmission operator, Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE), was signed on December 3.

This is the first strategic document of its kind in the field of energy infrastructure protection to be concluded between the Polish Armed Forces and a civilian state institution.

The parties will focus on information sharing and on coordinating actions to monitor the infrastructure of the National Power System (KSE) and to counter various non-military and military threats.

Under the agreement, joint military exercises will be held at facilities of special importance for the security or defense of the state that PSE S.A. owns.

The goal is to familiarize representatives of the Polish Armed Forces with the characteristics and specifics of operating these facilities.

“Energy infrastructure is the first target of attack. We are drawing lessons from the Ukrainian experience — difficult and painful for our neighbors — which we must learn now,” Poland’s Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

The agreement provides for the creation of a permanent expert group to strengthen the country’s critical infrastructure resilience to military threats.

It will develop recommendations to improve the security and protection systems of PSE facilities, as well as for purchasing equipment, devices, and technical resources.

In November, Poland announced the deployment of 10,000 service members as part of Operation Horizon, following acts of sabotage on the railway.

The purpose of this measure is to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure and prevent possible future acts of sabotage within the country.