Abstract
Aim: The aim of the article is to present unconventional terrorism as a potential threat to Poland. The article analyses the possibilities of acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction and conducting an attack in our country. It also analyses the country’s terrorism countering system.
Introduction: Poland’s involvement in the fight against international terrorism creates a threat of a counter attack by terrorist groups. Poland has received numerous threats of a potential direct attack on its territory by various terrorist groups in retaliation for our involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan missions, as well as our support for the coalition countering the activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL), a jihadist group [6]. The incidents that have taken place over the last few years have demonstrated that terrorists are unpredictable and ruthless. Moreover, they will try to reach their goals by any means possible, using any weapon they can get, including Weapons of Mass Destruction. Their aim is to inflict as much damage as they can, and thus induce unprecedented panic and fear. In March, during the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, experts warned that each country is the potential target of nuclear terrorist attack, and that there are no obstacles terrorists cannot overcome to acquire nuclear weapons or radioactive materials. That is why it is worthwhile analysing all potential threats connected with being attacked with Weapons of Mass Destruction as well as the current state of counter terrorism activity in Poland.
Methodology: The article utilises theoretical research methods such as analysis and synthesis, comparison, analogy and generalisation as well as induction and deduction. The analysis, comparison and deduction covered the Polish and foreign literature in the field of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, and normative acts pertinent to the countering of terrorist threats in Poland. This was supplemented by a synthesis, generalisation and inductive inference, which allowed the presentation of general theses and specific propositions discussed in the article.
Conclusions: It has been proven in the article that despite existing potential risks of terrorist attacks, Poland has all the necessary services and institutions to counteract the phenomenon. However, the need arises to define more precisely counter-terrorism tasks and competences.
Keywords: unconventional terrorism, weapon of mass destruction
Type of article: review article