On September the 17th, 2021, at the Academy of War of Art, the head of the Ministry of National Defence participated in the "Information Independence" conference organized by the Academic Centre for Strategic Communication. Its participants, representing various environment of academic experts, journalists and representatives of public institutions and independent think tanks, discuss the contemporary communication environment, hybrid threats in the information space, cooperation in counteracting fake news and disinformation.

- It was no accident that I established the Academic Centre for Strategic Communication within the framework of the Academy of War of Art. And it is not by accident that director Agnieszka Glapiak – the Head  of the Operational Centre of the Ministry of National Defence is in charge of this case. Because we want our society to be well informed. We want disinformation, fake news produced by our neighbour from the East to be repelled, these attacks to be repelled, to show everything that is related to an attempt to influence our society - Minister Mariusz Błaszczak emphasized during the opening of the conference.

The topics of the meeting are, among others, challenges related to communication management and cooperation between the media and public institutions. The meeting is also to show a broader international perspective of strategic communication in 3 discussion panels: Communication strategy - exchange of experiences of institutions, Media and public institutions on the information front - why cooperation is possible and "StratCom Direction" - international perspective.

- We are indeed on an important day here at the Academy of War of Art. We meet on September the 17th. In 1939, the Soviets attacked Poland, which was fighting the German invaders, and after we dealt with a great wave of disinformation and falsification of reality. It has been like this over the years. We are still feeling the effects of these processes - emphasized the head of the Ministry of National Defence. - Today we complete all of this. We truly show the face of our history. We are proud of our heroes. But we also meet in a difficult time related to the hybrid attack on Poland by the Lukashenka regime. Moreover, not only on Poland, because such an attack was also conducted on Lithuania and Latvia. This attack is also accompanied by disinformation. This attack is accompanied by fake news - emphasized the minister.

In the context of the events in the border areas covered by the state of emergency, the minister emphasized that the Polish Army, apart from supporting the Border Guard on the Polish-Belarusian border, also conduct an information campaign. - An example is the campaign conducted by the Territorial Defence Forces under the slogan Strong Support. It is an action carried out in the border areas in the areas covered by the state of emergency. This action is about talking to people, talking to local authorities, supporting inhabitants. Operation Strong Support conducted by Territorial Defence Forces aims at to ensure that residents of border areas can be reliably informed.

Conference panelists include representatives of public administration, the Polish Army and the media, as well as the Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence(NATO StratCom CoE) , head of the EEAS East StratCom Task Force, head of the international cooperation department of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, head of public policy in Facebook or a representative of the Global Engagement Center (GEC) of the US Department of State.

During the event, Agnieszka Glapiak, the Head of the Operational Centre of the Ministry of National Defence, acting as director of the Academic Centre for Strategic Communication and Jānis Sārts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, signed documents for the certification of the NATO course.

Minister Mariusz Błaszczak emphasized that the Ministry of National Defence closely cooperates with allies from NATO countries, which are also facing to the challenges of hybrid activities, including disinformation. - I had the honour of signing, together with my colleagues from the Visegrad Group countries, with the defence ministers of the Visegrad Group countries, an agreement on the exchange of experiences, which concerns cooperation in the area of strategic communication. We cooperate in the North Atlantic Alliance format, but we also cooperate more closely within NATO with countries from our part of Europe that are facing to such attacks and threats - said the minister.

- I want to ensure that the Academic Centre for Strategic Communication will be active, it will organize courses, trainings and exercises. I sincerely encourage you to participate in these projects because in this way we can preserve and strengthen the security of our homeland.

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The Academic Centre for Strategic Communication at the Academy of Art of War was established at the beginning of May this year. Its mission is to improve the communication system in the Polish Army, increase public awareness of the threats from the information environment and initiate public debate on strategic communication and counteracting disinformation.