Challenges to national defence in contemporary geopolitical situation

This article deals primarily with the protection of the population in the Czech Republic, as it is a very important security area of the highest priority. The population protection system in the Czech Republic is briefly explained, which has been fully under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic since 2001, but a number of other central administrative authorities (ministries, special institutes and institutions, research institutes) are also involved in its implementation. In addition to legal standards and implementation decrees, the Czech Republic security strategy and the concept of population protection are also presented. A separate part is devoted to the last valid Population Protection Concept from 2021, and it is emphasized here that the concept places great importance on the population’s preparedness for dealing with extraordinary events and crisis situations. The Model Action Activity of the Integrated Rescue System in the Czech Republic is presented in the next section. Although many model action activities have already been published in the Czech Republic, unfortunately such a safety management plan has not yet been published for the extremely hazardous natural disaster „Tornado“. This subsection briefly explains how the Intergreted Rescue system intervenes in emergency and crisis situations. A separate part is devoted to the hazardous and strong tornado in Moravia in 2021, where a total of 6 people lost their lives and another 200 were injured, many were hospitalized. Material damage after the tornado’s rampage climbed to dizzying heights. The wave of solidarity with the affected population has reached unprecedented proportions not only in the Czech Republic. At the end of the contribution, the authors present their own proposal for the future, how to continue working in this area, from the preparation and convening of a national security conference in the Czech Republic to the preparation and publication of the Model Action Activity of the Integrated Rescue System in the Czech Republic in the disaster event of a tornado.

The military forces and means are used to fulfill humanitarian tasks of civil protection and to fulfill the tasks of the Police of the Czech Republic in serious situations endangering lives, health, property, or the environment. If the responsible administrative authorities, territorial self-governing bodies, fire protection authorities, or military rescue units are unable to provide rescue work or liquidate the consequences of a disaster on their own, the military is called. In addition to conventional defense tasks, it is therefore necessary to ensure the overall preparation of all components of the army for the performance of other tasks in cooperation with civilian authorities in their own territory. The paper focuses on the issues of civil-military cooperation, active advances and current capabilities of the Army of the Czech Republic in providing cooperation in rescue and liquidation work in the regions of the Czech Republic. The analysis of this issue identified the key aspects and for the subsequent determination of the evaluation criteria, the multi-criteria method was applied. The authors suggest certain procedures for updating the current situation that could be applicable in practice.