President Donald Trump has always been something of a skeptic of NATO and other traditional U.S. military alliances. And now, the president is under fire for the administration’s delay in deploying troops to Poland.
Mark Hertling, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, wrote about this for The Bulwark this week.
“THE ABRUPT DECISION by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to halt the planned deployment of roughly 4,000 American troops to Poland—and the broader announcement of withdrawing another 5,000 troops from Europe—has rattled allies across the continent,” Hertling writes for The Bulwark. “According to a recent report in Politico, even Pentagon officials were caught off guard. “We had no idea this was coming,” one U.S. official reportedly said, as European and American leaders spent the next twenty-four hours trying to determine whether additional surprises from head office were on the way. Russia surely welcomed the move.”
Poland borders Russia and is therefore on the front lines of NATO.
“What concerns me is the apparent lack of strategic coherence surrounding this one—and a growing misunderstanding in Washington about what American forces in Europe are actually there to do.”
NEW from @MarkHertling: https://t.co/g5Notv5CAB pic.twitter.com/y8P6viBEcR
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) May 18, 2026
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“My biggest concern about this latest decision is not the force reduction itself. Military posture decisions come and go; every administration has the right to review deployments,” the retired general writes. “What concerns me is the apparent lack of strategic coherence surrounding this one—and a growing misunderstanding in Washington about what American forces in Europe are actually there to do.”
He went on to describe Poland as “one of NATO’s strongest and most reliable allies.”
“Poland is hardly alone. Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Baltic nations have also spent the last decade building increasingly capable militaries with American support, equipment, advising, and training,” the retired lieutenant general wrote. “Those partnerships were not accidental. They were the result of sustained American engagement designed to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank after Russia’s aggression in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. That was part of the long-term strategic plan when I was the commander, and it was exceedingly successful.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
