The saga of US-Poland missile defense cooperation

Ian Brzezinski, New Atlanticist (USA)
Missile defense cooperation stands among the most prominent dimensions of the strategic relationship between the United States and Poland. Both Washington and Warsaw have been strong advocates of missile defense within NATO. Poland has enthusiastically accepted US requests to base missile interceptors on its territory, and recently made the acquisition of air and missile defense capability its top military procurement priority. Yet, what should be a unifying pillar of US-Poland security cooperation has too often been an irritant.