Polish President Andrzej Duda and PM Donald Tusk will fly to the U.S. in separate planes due to security measures, said Stanisław Koziej, the former head of the National Security Bureau (BBN).
Stanisław Koziej was commenting on the planned trip to Washington on March 12 by Duda and Tusk to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO.
According to security regulations implemented after the 2010 Smolensk air disaster, “the two most important people in the country cannot travel on the same plane.”
“If something terrible were to happen, there would be no one to run the state,” Koziej told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Monday.
On April 10, 2010, a presidential plane carrying President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and over 80 senior officials, including the senior commanders of the Polish Armed Forces, crashed near a military airfield in Smolensk, western Russia, during a landing attempt in heavy fog.
No one survived the crash.
According to Koziej, prior to 2010, official travel procedures did not include such a provision.
“They were probably all counting on common sense, which dictates that you shouldn’t put all military commanders on one plane,” said Koziej.
“But, as it turned out, this common sense was lacking at the time, and formal legal regulations had to be put in place so that such situations would not happen again,” he continued.
The rules forbid joint travel by more than half of the cabinet and other key bodies “responsible for running the state in case of emergency or war.”
According to security regulations implemented after the 2010 Smolensk air disaster, “the two most important people in the country cannot travel on the same plane.”
“If something terrible were to happen, there would be no one to run the state,” Koziej told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Monday.
On April 10, 2010, a presidential plane carrying President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and over 80 senior officials, including the senior commanders of the Polish Armed Forces, crashed near a military airfield in Smolensk, western Russia, during a landing attempt in heavy fog.
No one survived the crash.
According to Koziej, prior to 2010, official travel procedures did not include such a provision.
“They were probably all counting on common sense, which dictates that you shouldn’t put all military commanders on one plane,” said Koziej.
“But, as it turned out, this common sense was lacking at the time, and formal legal regulations had to be put in place so that such situations would not happen again,” he continued.
The rules forbid joint travel by more than half of the cabinet and other key bodies “responsible for running the state in case of emergency or war.”
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