Gawkowski, who also serves as the country's deputy prime minister, was asked why no information had appeared in the government's mObywatel app about a missile that entered Polish airspace on Thursday.
He said alerts could not be issued until information had been verified, and that the air force's confirmation that an unidentified object was approaching – which triggered air-raid sirens as the fastest means of warning the public – took 13 minutes to establish.
He said the Government Centre for Security (RCB) was now working to make such alerts available more quickly, including through the mObywatel app, and that a system was being introduced to send explanatory text messages as soon as a threat was confirmed.
Gawkowski distinguished between an "alert," which signals danger, and follow-up "information" explaining what had happened, calling the latter essential for public awareness.
According to the minister, the missile might have entered Polish airspace by accident, but could also have been a provocation.
He linked the incident to an alarm systems drill held the previous week, suggesting Russia may have been testing how Poland's response systems worked.
Safety guide website crashes under demand
Separately on Friday, the government website hosting a digital "safety guide" went down shortly after a text alert was sent to phones across Poland pointing to it, according to media reports.
The RCB said interest in the guide, which advises citizens on how to respond to crises, had far exceeded expectations.
Interior ministry spokeswoman Karolina Gałecka denied the outage was caused by a technical fault or a cyberattack, saying government IT staff were working to fix the problem and boost server capacity.
The guide recommends citizens prepare an evacuation backpack containing bottled water, a first-aid kit, documents and cash, and sets out what to do if a designated shelter cannot be reached.
It was developed over 18 months by nearly 60 experts from the interior and defence ministries and the RCB, drawing on a similar guide issued by the Swedish government.
(ał)
Source: PAP, IAR