Polish defense minister to meet US Secretary of War Hegseth on 10 November

Meeting set for Tuesday

The Pentagon has confirmed that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will meet Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland's deputy prime minister and defense minister, on Tuesday, 10 November, at 10:30 local time (16:30 in Poland). The Department of War press office announced the meeting on Friday, 6 November. Earlier that day, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that if everything went well, he would travel to the United States at the start of next week. He said the talks would cover bases, the presence of American soldiers and the Polish-American alliance.

“We will be at the Pentagon, we will talk about bases, about the presence of American soldiers, about the Polish-American alliance.”

Timing after the midterms

Kosiniak-Kamysz had said the meeting would take place after the midterm congressional elections of 4 November, and the talks now fall a week after that vote. In those elections the Republican Party lost its majority in both chambers of Congress to the Democratic Party. Last week the minister said there was no problem agreeing a date, but that out of caution he would not disclose possible dates. He tied that caution to September, when a meeting with the Pentagon chief was cancelled at the last minute because Chinese leader Xi Jinping was visiting the United States.

Key dates

The sequence runs from the cancelled September session to the talks scheduled for 10 November. The minister's cautious approach to dates followed directly from that earlier cancellation.

Missile center and permanent base

In September the talks were to cover Polish security and the possible location of a PAC-3 missile service center in Poland. In mid-October the US side decided that a center servicing PAC-3 MSE missiles for the Patriot air defense systems will be built in Poland. Its location, construction cost and possible start date remain unknown. A permanent US troop base in Poland has not yet been settled. At a press conference on Friday, 6 November, Kosiniak-Kamysz was asked about the trip in connection with a permanent base and said he would be in the United States "in the coming days". Deputy defense minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said in the week of 2 November that the base had been one of the topics at a meeting in Kraków with US officials, including under secretaries Elbridge Colby and Michael Duffey.

“Everything is on the right track, but there are still a few steps ahead of us.”

The Polish side has not yet announced the outcome of the talks, and the decision on a permanent base remains open.