{"id":7014,"date":"2026-05-16T04:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/7014\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:23:10","slug":"house-republicans-slam-troop-reductions-in-poland-a-country-hegseth-praised-as-model-ally-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/7014\/","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans slam troop reductions in Poland \u2013 a country Hegseth praised as \u2018model ally\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

House Republicans fumed Friday after the Pentagon scrapped a deployment<\/a> of 4,000 US troops to Poland \u2013 a nation War Secretary Pete Hegseth has praised for being a \u201cmodel ally.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and acting Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve were grilled by lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee about the Pentagon\u2019s<\/a> move to cancel routine deployment of the Fort Hood, Texas-based 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team of 1st Cavalry Division but couldn\u2019t provide an exact reason for the decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to tell you, it\u2019s reprehensible. It\u2019s an embarrassment to our country what we just did to Poland,\u201d Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) raged<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no good explanation,\u201d the retiring congressman continued. \u201cThere\u2019s got to be some explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

LaNeve suggested the final decision was made recently but couldn\u2019t explain exactly why it was made. AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta<\/p>\n

LaNeve, who cautioned he\u2019s \u201cnot on the policy side,\u201d suggested officials reviewed the force structure in Europe and determined \u201cwe could reap back one of the brigades that are in the rotation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I represent the views of the vast majority [on the House Armed Services Committee],\u201d Bacon responded. \u201cWe disagree.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Nebraska Republican<\/a> slammed the decision as \u201cfoolish\u201d and a \u201cterrible message to Russia and to our allies.\u201d Bacon also revealed Polish officials told him they were \u201cblindsided\u201d by the move.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a slap in the face to Poland. It\u2019s a slap in the face to our Baltic friends and I think it\u2019s a slap to the face to this committee,\u201d the congressman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, Hegseth lauded Poland as \u201ca model ally on the continent,\u201d for its willingness to \u201cinvest not just in their defense, but in our shared defense.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of partnership \u2014 just to underscore here \u2014 is unmatched in Europe,\u201d the war secretary said of the US alliance with Poland.<\/p>\n

President Trump expressed an openness to expanding the US military\u2019s presence in Poland earlier this month, after announcing plans to withdraw 5,000 American soldiers from Germany \u2013 which had been critical of the Iran war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPoland would like that,\u201d Trump said on May 8. \u201cWe have a great relationship with Poland. I have a great relationship with the president \u2026 I like him a lot, so that\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

In anticipation of their now-cancelled 9-month mission, the brigade held a casing of colors ceremony \u2013 an Army tradition ahead of deployment \u2013 on May 4, according to Stars and Stripes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hegseth described Poland as a \u201cmodel ally\u201d last year. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Driscoll was grilled on the Pentagon\u2019s decision to scrap a troop deployment to Poland during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Friday. AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta<\/p>\n

LaNeve told lawmakers the decision came down \u201crelatively recent \u2026probably within the last two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a Pentagon spokesman appeared to push back on the chief of staff\u2019s testimony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to withdraw troops follows a comprehensive, multilayered process that incorporates perspectives from key leaders in EUCOM and across the chain of command,\u201d acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said in a statement. This was not an unexpected, last minute decision, and it would be false to report it as such.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pentagon declined to provide The Post with any additional information about the decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on here, but I can just tell you we\u2019re not happy with what\u2019s being talked about, particularly since there\u2019s been no statutory consultation with us,\u201d House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said at the hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Polish officials contend the alliance with US remains \u201cdurable and lasting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPoland continues to be the most stable American ally in Europe,\u201d Defense Minister W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deputy Defense Minister Pawe\u0142 Zalewski told the Polish outlet TVN24 that he doesn\u2019t expect a continued reduction in US troops in Poland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe assurance we have received is that the Americans do not plan to systematically reduce the US presence in Poland,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"House Republicans fumed Friday after the Pentagon scrapped a deployment of 4,000 US troops to Poland \u2013 a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6264,5871,5872,5875,5862,6263,5187,5345,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-7014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poland","8":"tag-2nd-armored-brigade-combat-team-of-1st-cavalry-division","9":"tag-christopher-laneve","10":"tag-dan-driscoll","11":"tag-don-bacon","12":"tag-house-armed-services-committee","13":"tag-house-republicans","14":"tag-pentagon","15":"tag-pete-hegseth","16":"tag-poland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}