Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in Europe this week. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s decision last week to cancel the deployment of 4,000 U.S. troops to Poland is at the top of his agenda. Caine will attend a meeting of NATO military committee chiefs in Brussels on Tuesday, where Polish Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Wiesław Kukuła is expected to raise the issue of U.S. troop presence in Poland. Caine will then travel to Warsaw on Wednesday to meet Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Polish Radio reported on Sunday. Polish Deputy Defense Ministers Cezary Tomczyk and Paweł Zalewski are also scheduled to travel to Washington this week for further consultations. NATO foreign ministers will also be meeting in Sweden on May 21-22, which will be attended by Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, where the U.S. troop presence in Poland is also expected to be on the table.
Polish officials have sought to contain the fallout. Kosiniak-Kamysz said there had been no decision to reduce the American contingent in Poland, and that any reorganization would affect only which specific units are sent to which countries. Presidential advisor Alvin Gajadhur echoed that assurance, saying the changes do not concern Poland and that the Presidential Palace stands ready to engage with Washington if issues arise.
