The Age of Fear. 20 Years Later: Introduction
Marcin Lasoń | Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University
ORCID 0000-0001-8008-3325
Marcin Lasoń has been an Associate Professor of International Relations and National Security at A.F. Modrzewski Krakow University since 2012 and holds the chair of International Security Policy. Since 2019, he has been a Visiting Professor at University of Silesia in Katowice. His research focuses on various aspects of international conflicts and peace, national and international security, the conflict and peace process in Iraq and Afghanistan, and particularly on the contribution of the Polish armed forces and the importance of a state’s armed forces to its foreign policy. He continues to study and analyse cases connected to special and territorial forces in Poland, especially GROM unit. Thanks to the research stay at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand between 2 February and 20 March 2017, he has opened a new research area: New Zealand’s defence and security policy. The Polish Armed Forces make use of his knowledge. He cooperates with the Special Forces Command and the Territorial Forces Command. Since 2016, he has been the editor of an influential Polish scientific journal Security – Theory and Practice. It is one of the best Polish journals about security studies and is recommended by the Minister of Science. Additionally, he is a council member of the SPRZYMIERZENI z GROM Foundation.
He is an author of more than 100 publications (books and edited volumes, book chapters, articles in scholarly journals, etc.) e.g., Polish mission in Iraq. The use of armed forces as an instrument of Polish foreign policy in Iraq 2003-2008. (Użycie sił zbrojnych jako środka polityki zagranicznej Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej na przykładzie interwencji w Iraku 2003-2008, Kraków 2010), Defence and national security policy of New Zealand in the 21st century: between pragmatism and minimalism. (Polityka obronna i bezpieczeństwa narodowego Nowej Zelandii w XXI wieku. Pomiędzy pragmatyzmem a minimalizmem, Kraków 2018), and (with Grzegorz Wydrowski) ‘Special Missions Unit GROM: An Instrument of the Security Policy of the Republic of Poland. Thirtieth Anniversary of the Formation’, Security – Theory and Practice, No. 2, April-June 2020 (Jednostka Wojskowa GROM jako instrument polityki bezpieczeństwa Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Jubileusz 30 lat istnienia formacji, pod red. M. Lasonia i G. Wydrowskiego, Bezpieczeństwo. Teoria i Praktyka, nr 2/2020). Prof. Marcin Lasoń is also a reviewer of Polish and international academic journals and a successful supervisor of Ph.D. students.
Maciej Klisz | The Polish Territorial Defence Forces Command, Deputy Commander
ORCID 0000-0002-0672-2501
Colonel Maciej Klisz enlisted in the Polish Armed Forces as a cadet in the Officer School of Mechanized Infantry in 1991. Upon graduation in 1995, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. Later, he was assigned to the 6th Airborne Brigade where he served in numerous positions. While serving as a rifle company commander, he conducted operational deployments to Bosnia-Herzegovina under the IFOR and the SFOR missions. In 2001, he successfully completed the Airborne School, Pathfinder School, and Ranger School in Fort Benning, USA. In 2005, he graduated from the National Defence Academy in Warsaw and continued his education at the Post-Graduate Operational and Tactics Studies.
In 2006, he joined the Polish Special Operations Forces (POL SOF), where he served for 11 years on strategic, operational, and tactical level positions. During that time, he completed the Program on Terrorism and Security Studies (PTSS) in the George Marshall Center in Germany, various NATO Operational Planning, NATO Special Operations planning courses, and strategic project management courses. He deployed to Afghanistan as a Chief of Staff of the NATO Special Operations Component Command (NSOCC-A) in 2015.
Following the operational deployment, COL. Maciej Klisz joined the Polish Territorial Defence Forces (POL TDF). In the years 2016-2019, he served as a Chief of Staff. In 2020, having completed studies in the US Army War College, he became a superior graduate. In July 2020, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the POL TDF.
His awards include the Afghan Star Campaign Medal, the Military Cross of Merit with Swords, the US Bronze Star Medal, the Medal of Merit for National Defence, the Medal of the Armed Forces in the Service of the Fatherland, the Medal for Long Service, the Medal of the Slovak Special Operations Forces, and NATO Medals.
He is an author of numerous articles, analyses, and papers on special operations policies and operational employment, professional military education, international military cooperation, strategy development, and territorial and volunteer formations.
„Bezpieczeństwo. Teoria i Praktyka”, 3/2021, s. 13-15
DOI 10.48269/2451-0718-btip-2021-3-000
PDF: English