In peacetime the direct commander of the armed forces is the chief of the General Staff, who also carries the title general inspector of the armed forces. The General Staff is responsible for all phases of command, including training, strategic and organizational planning, mobilization, and logistics--activities previously divided among several departments in the Ministry of National Defense. The chief of the General Staff has three deputies: the chief of the training inspectorate, the chief of armed forces strategic planning and organization, and the chief inspector of logistics. Those officers in turn head the three main support commands of the military branch. The chief commands directly the four military districts, together with unified air and air defense, navy, and higher military education commands. Directorates for personnel, medicine, education, finances, and military police are commanded by the General Staff as a whole.

Throughout the 1980s, Poland's armed forces were administered through three military districts. In 1991, in keeping with the eastward shift of threat perception, plans were made to split the Warsaw Military District, which had covered all of eastern Poland, to form a fourth military district centered in Kraków. Although this step nominally gave Poland the strength of two districts facing eastward, the actual formation of the Kraków Military District was delayed in 1992 because funding was unavailable to make the necessary shifts of personnel and equipment.

Data as of October 1992