Statement by Ambassador Stephen Mull
Acting Assistant Secretary for Political Military Affairs
U.S. Department of State
February 29, 2008

I was very pleased to be in Warsaw today to discuss with Minister Waszczykowski and our other Polish friends the prospects for strengthening the Polish-American partnership in support of Poland’s military modernization.  America greatly values its bilateral security relationship with Poland and our broader alliance within NATO.  Together over the past decade, we have worked closely and effectively to expand the zone of peace and cooperation in Europe; to promote the growth of democratic values in the broader European neighborhood; and, more recently, to protect our North Atlantic community from the grave threat of terror emanating from Afghanistan.  As a result, Poland and America are safer.

But our work is not yet complete.  It is very much in America’s interests that Poland continue its contributions to efforts on behalf of global security, and to defend itself against new threats that arise.  Our guarantee through NATO of Poland’s security is an important element of our support for Poland.  We have also been pleased to support Poland’s military modernization with more than $400 million in security assistance over the past 15 years.

My colleagues and I came to Poland today to chart the future of our continuing support for the modernization of Poland’s defense forces.  We agreed to focus in particular on Poland’s air defense, command and control and mobility needs.  While we have much work to do on both sides to clarify the details of how we can work together on these issues, we made a good start today. We want to continue this work.  In the final analysis, I assure you that Poland will be able to count on America’s continuing strong and substantial support for years to come as it improves its capabilities to defend against our common threats.