Skip to main content

Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.

A top defense official has confirmed that the United States will resume its rotation of troops in Poland in the “coming weeks,” after the Pentagon paused the deployment earlier this year.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Back in May, the Pentagon hit the brakes on a deployment that had been in the works for months (roughly 4,000 troops bound for Poland). It was tied to a broader plan to evaluate how many American boots stay in Europe, with Washington leaning on allies to cover more of their own defense tab. The move caught some defense officials off guard and pissed off US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. A few days later, Trump floated sending an extra 5,000 troops instead (except some Republicans say that never actually happened, and they’re threatening to tank the administration’s $88 billion Iran war supplemental if the troops don’t hit the ground). There are about 10,000 American troops in Poland right now, making it one of the biggest US military footholds on NATO’s eastern edge and a key piece of the effort to keep Russia in check.

deploy troops

What’s going on now: Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz broke the news during a defense industry gathering in Bydgoszcz, saying the confirmation came straight from Deputy US Ambassador Stephanie Holmes and the US military attaché.

He pitched the move as one more brick in the Polish-American defense relationship, speaking right after inking a deal for a Polish plant to build US-designed Barracuda cruise missiles.

The rotation isn’t the whole story. Warsaw and Washington are also hashing out a bigger US presence, which could result in a permanent American base on Polish soil. Polish officials are keeping that conversation on its own track, separate from the rotation, and word is a decision on the base could land somewhere in the next six months to a year.

Poland’s already put in a formal ask for a permanent site, which would give it room to park even more troops beyond the ~10,000 already there. Bartosz Grodecki, who runs Poland’s National Security Bureau, said that in meetings at the Pentagon, US officials kept calling Poland a “model ally.”

Despite this, other countries in the region are seeing US troops leave. Estonia, which has seen its US contingent drop to less than 100 troops, expects a new rotation this summer, though it’s unclear what the size of that deployment will be.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

Keep up to date with our latest videos, news and content