Tomasz Szatkowski

Ambassador Tomasz Szatkowski is a Distinguished Associate Fellow at the CSDS. He is a security and defence policy official and expert who currently serves as an Adviser to the President of the Republic of Poland. As a Permanent Representative of Poland to NATO he led the national delegation between 2019 – 2024 significantly contributing to the strategic and defence adaptation of the Alliance, as well to formulation of the NATO’s response to the war in Ukraine. As a Deputy Minister of National Defence he was responsible for the Ministry’s policy (2015 – 2019) and led the development of the new defence strategy (Strategic Defence Review 2017), which paved the way for the subsequent substantial Polish defence build up, and also led the efforts to anchor the Allied presence in Poland, i.a., through the establishment of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence, as well as through concluding the agreement with the US.

His past experience includes also key positions at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the Polish and European Parliaments, defence industry, as well as the think tank sector, where he i.a. introduced innovative methodologies to defence analysis. He received his education at Warsaw University, King’s College London, Florida International University, Naval Postgraduate School, Defence Academy of the UK, IESE Business School and KSAP – National School of Public Administration obtaining i.a. two MA degrees (Law and War Studies), and is currently completing a PhD thesis on the epistemology of defence policy. He also currently co-organises a national security postgraduate curriculum for the Warsaw School of Economics. He was honoured with the following fellowships: UK FCO/MoD Chevening, US Department of State IVLP, GMF US Asmus Policy Entrepreneurs, Munich Security Conference/Körber Stiftung Munich Young Leader and is decorated by the governments of Estonia, Norway and Ukraine.