Poland wants to make America's military presence permanent. On 16 June, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that his government is drafting a resolution to pursue the creation of a permanent US base on Polish soil — a measure proposed by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and due before the cabinet this week.
The move formalises an offer Warsaw has already put on the table. On 3 June, Kosiniak-Kamysz said he had submitted an official proposal to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for a new permanent American base. "A secure Poland means a strong army, a strong society, and strong alliances," he said. At a later press conference he added that "final decisions have not been made yet, but we are on the right track."
Poland is already one of Washington's closest security partners in Europe. It hosts roughly 10,000 US troops on a rotational basis, along with a US Army garrison in Poznań and the Aegis Ashore ballistic-missile-defence site at Redzikowo on the Baltic coast. What it does not have is a permanent, treaty-anchored US base — the kind of fixed commitment that would be far harder for any future US administration to unwind.
That distinction is the whole point. Rotational deployments can be paused, shortened or cancelled with little notice. A permanent base implies a presence that endures across changes of government in Washington.
The proposal has united Poland's governing coalition and opposition — a rare moment of consensus in a country whose politics are otherwise bitterly divided. That unity reflects unease rather than confidence. It follows months of doubt about the reliability of the US security umbrella, after Washington scaled back troop rotations to NATO's eastern flank earlier this year and signalled a broader pivot away from Europe.
Poland is trying to bolt down the American presence before it can drift away. By moving from a rotational arrangement to a request for a permanent base, Warsaw is betting that a fixed US footprint is the surest guarantee against Russian aggression — and the best insurance against an unpredictable ally. The catch is that the decision rests in Washington, not Warsaw. Poland can draft resolutions and submit proposals, but only the United States can say yes. Until it does, Poland's eastern flank is still defended by troops who, on paper, can be sent home.
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