Poland Aide Blames "Chaotic Communication" for US Troop Confusion

PRAGUE — A senior aide to Polish President Karol Nawrocki told POLITICO on Friday that “chaotic communication” in Washington is behind confusion over U.S. troop deployments and said the White House remains committed to boots on the ground.

In an interview at the POLITICO Speakeasy at GLOBSEC, Marcin Przydacz, secretary of state to the nationalist president, said Donald Trump’s announcement late Thursday that the U.S. would send 5,000 troops to Poland was not a surprise in Warsaw.

“It was very much expected in Poland, and especially in the presidential palace,” Przydacz said, adding that Polish officials had been working on the issue for some time.

It followed days of uncertainty over the future of the U.S. military presence in Europe. Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly canceled a planned 4,000-troop deployment to Poland, alarming officials in Warsaw and angering members of Congress.

“It was chaotic communication. I’m pretty sure that it was not in line with the decision of the White House,” Przydacz said, describing the episode as “a bit of misunderstanding within the Pentagon.”

After the Pentagon’s announcement May 14, U.S. Vice President JD Vance subsequently said the Poland deployment had been delayed, not canceled. The Pentagon also earlier announced plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.

Trump’s promise Friday that the U.S. would send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland cited his relationship with the Polish president.

However, other officials pointed to bipartisan congressional anger over Hegseth's deployment decision as the driver behind Trump's U-turn. “Hegseth's decision was contrary to Trump's earlier declarations about forces in Poland and also violated congressional resolutions on retaining a minimal number of U.S. troops in Europe," said a senior defense official from a NATO country who spoke on condition of being granted anonymity.

The official pointed to the difficulty Trump faces in getting Congress to approve his $1.5 trillion defense budget and this November's congressional elections as key factors in getting Trump to shift. "I think the biggest factor was pressure from Congress," they said.

The confused U.S. messaging dismayed Poland and European allies, but was a boon to Russian President Vladimir Putin, retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said at the POLITICO Speakeasy, adding that Hegseth “should probably resign.”

While Trump has backtracked on how many U.S. soldiers will be in Poland, the broad direction of the Pentagon scaling back its forces on the continent will continue, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a meeting of fellow alliance foreign ministers in Sweden.

“It’s well understood in the alliance that the United States troop presence in Europe is going to be adjusted, that that work was already ongoing, and it's been done in coordination with our allies," Rubio said. "I'm not saying they're going to be thrilled about it, but they certainly are aware of it."

The result will be a "collective product" and based on an "ongoing process involving other countries," he said.

A NATO diplomat said that the U.S. line "is much clearer now," but added that the timeline for the new U.S. force posture is complicated "because it is linked with the credibility of deterrence and defense."

Przydacz said Trump had signaled during Nawrocki’s first White House visit last year that American troops would stay in Poland and that their numbers could rise, and cited the “positive chemistry” between the leaders as a factor in the latest decision.

However, the Polish government of pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk underlined that the Trump decision is based less on personal relations and more on underlying U.S. security interests. “It’s good that we’re fighting together for issues that are fundamental to our country’s security," said Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

Przydacz argued Poland had strengthened its case by spending heavily on defense — it is NATO's top spender as a percentage of GDP — including spending billions on U.S. tanks, jets and missiles, serving as what Washington has called a “model ally.”

“The anchor we see is the decision of the president of the United States,” Przydacz said, adding that there would “for sure” be more U.S. troops in Poland rather than fewer.

He said Warsaw would now push to turn more of the U.S. presence from rotational into permanent deployments. “Now we are starting our work with the goal to convince our American friends to change the status of those troops,” implying that the presence would no longer be rotational troops, but permanent.