Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz reported that he had met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of the recent NATO defense ministerial meeting where they discussed US-Polish military relations and that he had received a response to a May 29 letter “which noted Poland’s readiness to create a permanent base for the US military.”
“I am pleased to announce that the Secretary of War together with his entire team, as well as the United States, have responded positively to the proposition of establishing a permanent military base in our homeland,” he said, according to a June 18 Polish government statement.
“Permanent presence of American troops is the goal that previous governments have been trying to reach. We have sought it for years,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said. “I am certain that last month’s events, when US military rotation to Europe has been cancelled, have focused attention on model allies. That is what the Secretary of War spoke about in the open part of our meeting, stressing that those who fulfil the criteria—and that is what the reply emphasizes—will get priority treatment.” He bragged that Poland spends 5 percent of its GDP on defense, that “Poland is engaged in the allied, collective defense on the eastern flank of NATO,” and is otherwise a bulwark of European defense.
