Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly halted the deployment of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team from the 1st Cavalry Division to Poland, with part of the unit already in country now ordered to return to Texas, according to Reuters and CNN reports citing anonymous US officials.
Hegseth also canceled a Biden-era plan to permanently station a long-range artillery battalion—including Tomahawk missiles—in Germany, and recalled the European command overseeing long-range strike capabilities from the continent, according to reports.
Internal Pentagon "talking points" reviewed by CNN directly tied the decisions to anger at European allies, singling out Germany.
"European nations did not step up when America needed them," the documents stated, adding that "Germany's recent rhetoric was inappropriate and unproductive."
The documents referred to comments by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggesting that Iran was "humiliating" America.
The guidance also framed the Biden-era troop buildup in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine—which doubled the US presence in Poland from roughly 5,000 to 10,000 troops—as always having been temporary.
A Pentagon spokesman pushed back on characterizations of the decision as hasty. "This was not an unexpected, last-minute decision," Acting Press Secretary Joel Valdez told the Politico news service.
However, Politico reported the move caught officials on both sides of the Atlantic off guard.
"We had no idea this was coming," one US official told the outlet, adding that European and American officials had "spent the last 24 hours on phone calls trying to understand the decision."
The Pentagon declined to formally notify Congress before the decision became public.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker said he was investigating and would demand answers from the Pentagon, while Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth also expressed outrage.
One US official told the Reuters news agency the Poland cancellation may be linked to the broader plan to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, suggesting forces originally bound for Poland from the United States could instead be redeployed from elsewhere.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz sought to reassure allies on Thursday, saying the total US troop presence in Poland—around 10,000 soldiers— had not changed and that ongoing reorganization might simply result in "different brigades being assigned to specific countries."
(jh/gs)
Source: Polish Radio, PAP