Duda, whose presidency began in 2015, shortly after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, is set to leave office during a time of full-scale war in neighbouring Ukraine.
His two-term presidency has been defined by a sharp focus on strengthening Poland’s defense capabilities and deepening military ties with the United States and NATO allies, state news agency PAP said in an analysis.
During Duda’s time in office, Poland’s armed forces grew from under 100,000 soldiers to 210,000, with a long-term target of 300,000. This dramatic expansion responded to heightened regional threats following Russia’s expanding aggression.
Polish defense spending has also increased. It hovered just above NATO’s 2 percent-of-GDP threshold early in Duda’s presidency but has now risen to nearly 5 percent, the highest proportion in the alliance.
Much of the increase has gone to new equipment orders and structural reforms. A key initiative was the 2022 Homeland Defense Act, which introduced universal defense concepts, voluntary military service, active reserves, and long-term defense financing.
Duda also promoted the Territorial Defense Force (WOT), established in 2017. The regional brigades, now comprising about 42,000 troops, support both national defense and civil crisis response. They have also played an increasing role amid migration pressure along Poland’s border with Belarus.
The last 10 years have also seen the strengthening of international military alliances.
While Poland’s security strategy is anchored in NATO, Duda placed special emphasis on deepening ties with the United States. American troop presence in Poland, once limited to temporary training missions, now numbers in the thousands.
A major step came at the 2016 NATO summit in Warsaw, which established enhanced forward presence (eFP) deployments in NATO’s eastern flank.
NATO’s multinational battlegroup in Poland, based in Orzysz, some 100 km from the Suwałki Gap, includes US, British, Croatian and Romanian forces.
Separately, bilateral US military deployments have expanded across Poland. These include the forward headquarters of the US Army’s V Corps in Poznań, an anti-missile defense base in Redzikowo, pre-positioned equipment depots, and logistics facilities supporting Ukraine via the Rzeszów-Jasionka airport hub.
In total, some 10,000 US and NATO soldiers are currently stationed in Poland under permanent or rotational arrangements.
In 2018, Duda proposed a permanent US base dubbed “Fort Trump.” While that idea did not materialize, US military presence grew significantly over the years that followed.
A 2020 defense cooperation agreement between the two countries allows for infrastructure to host up to 20,000 American troops.
Over his two terms, Duda has awarded 286 general and admiral ranks and commissioned nearly 42,000 officers across the armed forces and civil protection services.
After two top generals unexpectedly resigned just before the 2023 elections, Duda appointed Gen. Wiesław Kukuła as chief of general staff and Gen. Maciej Klisz as operational commander, in agreement with the defense ministry.
But civilian-military cooperation was not always smooth. In 2017, Duda refused to approve dozens of general officer promotions proposed by then-defense minister Antoni Macierewicz, amid a broader dispute over command reforms. The standoff ended in early 2018 when Macierewicz was replaced by Mariusz Błaszczak.
Duda also initiated legislation to restructure military command, aiming to restore separate service-level commands and create a Joint Operations Command. Although this law remains unprocessed in parliament, many of its proposals are being implemented through other legal instruments, according to senior national security officials.
In the final phase of his presidency, Duda urged NATO allies to increase minimum defense spending to at least 3 percent of GDP. His lobbying culminated at the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, where members committed to a new 5 percent target – 3.5 percent for direct defense and 1.5 percent for infrastructure, defense industries and civil defense.
Under the Polish constitution, the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, a role mostly delegated in peacetime to the Ministry of Defense. However, the president retains broad influence over military policy, strategic documents, top-level appointments and international defense partnerships.
A July survey by pollster CBOS found that 61 percent of Poles rated Duda’s performance in national security positively. His representation of Poland abroad was also rated well by a majority, though 37 percent said he had poorly handled foreign affairs.
Duda in July retained his position as Poland’s most trusted politician, with 53 percent of respondents to a survey expressing confidence in him.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl