Ballistic Missile Defense Seminar Held in Warsaw
 Numerous U.S. and Polish companies and research centers took part in a Ballistic Missile Defense seminar held in Warsaw from March 26-27. The seminar was sponsored by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and supported by the U.S. Embassy and the Polish Ministry of National Defense. According to U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe, the seminar offered “a unique opportunity for the United States and Poland to explore potential areas of research and development, and industry cooperation under MDA’s auspices and directly among the seminar participants. (more)
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Embassy Hosts Informational Lunch on Missile Defense
 Embassy
Charge d’Affaires Mary Curtin hosted a luncheon for Polish
parliamentarians and local government officials on March 11 to provide
further information about the U.S. proposal for a missile defense site
in Poland. Ms. Curtin explained that the luncheon was “part of the
Embassy’s initiative to provide more complete information about missile
defense to government officials and opinion leaders in Poland.” (more)
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Robert Bell Speaks On Missile Defense in Warsaw
 On
March 3-4, 2008, Robert Bell visited Warsaw to speak on missile defense
as part of the U.S. Embassy's missile defense outreach program. Bell,
who was a Special Assistant to President Clinton for National Security
Affairs, the National Security Council Senior Director for Defense
Policy and Arms Control, and NATO's Assistant Secretary General for
Defense, is one of the most knowledgeable experts on this issue. He
addressed experts, academics, students, defense industry
representatives, and the general public during presentations entitled
"Missile Defense in Europe: Past, Present, and Future." (more)
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Missile Defense Expert Baker Spring Visits Poland
 Missile Defense Expert Baker Spring of the Heritage Foundation in
Washington, DC visited Warsaw and Lublin to speak to audiences about
security policy in the context of missile derfense from February 13-15,
2008. During his visit, Spring met with representatives of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw and then gave presentations to
audiences at the Military University of Technology in Warsaw, the
Catholic University of Lublin, and the Polish Air Force Academy in
Lublin. (more)
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Embassy Official Speaks to Bydgoszcz Students on Missile Defense
 The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw's Deputy Press Attache, Chris Snipes, spoke to 150 political science students at the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz about the U.S. proposal to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland, on Thursday, January 10. The hour-long presentation and discussion focuses on key aspects of the U.S. proposal, such as why missile defense agains long-range ballistic missiles is needed in Europe, why Poland is an optimal site to place the 10 interceptors, and what the actual site would look like. (more)
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Embassy Co-Hosts Transatlantic Security Policy Conference
 The U.S. Embassy, in partnership with the British Embassy, Gazeta
Wyborcza, the Center for International Relations and the Konrad
Adenauer Stiftung, hosted a one-day conference on November 15 on
transatlantic security policy. A key topic of the conference was the
current proposal on a European missile defense system. The Embassy's
Deputy Chief of Mission Kenneth Hillas and President of the Center for
International Relations Eugeniusz Smolar both spoke at the conference. (more)
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Embassy Official Talks Missile Defense at National Defense University Colonel Walter A. Munyer, the U.S. Embassy's Air Attaché, visited the National Defense University in Rembertów on Monday, November 12 to speak to an audience that included University academics and military officers enrolled in the postgraduate strategic course about missile defense. During the presentation, he covered technical aspects of the ground-based missile interceptor system and then spoke in detail about the proposed European Interceptor Site. (more)
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Poznan Students Engage U.S. Officials in Missile Defense  Students at the Institute of Political Science and Journalism of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan discussed missile defense with U.S. officials on October 30, 2007. Peter Brookes, a Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Defense, and Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Kenneth Hillas spoke about the current missile defense proposal for Europe that includes basing 10 silo-based long-range missile interceptors in Poland. (more)
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Polish Officials Visit U.S. Missile Defense Bases In Colorado and California
 Six local government officials from the Slupsk region spent the week of October 24 in the United States visiting facilities related to the proposed deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in Poland. The trip was organized by the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw in cooperation with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and was designed to provide in-depth information to participants on how missile defense works currently and how a European-based missile defense would contribute to the protection of Europe and Poland. (more)
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Successful Missile Defense Intercept Test Takes Place Near Hawaii
 Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today that an important test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System was successfully completed today, resulting in the intercept of a ballistic missile target at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Preliminary indications are that planned flight test objectives were achieved. (more)
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Recent Statement on European Missile Defense  President Bush spoke at the National Defense University on October 23, 2007. An excerpt from his speech regarding missile defense follows. For the full text of the speech, please visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071023-3.html. "The next step is to take a system that has passed demanding tests in the Pacific theater and deploy elements of it to Europe -- so we can defend America and our NATO allies from attacks emanating from the Middle East. (more)
Article by Lt. General Henry Obering in Arms Control Today
European Missile Defense: The View From The Pentagon
When North Korea launched short- and long-range missiles last summer, we had for the first time the means to defend all 50 states and our allies in Japan and South Korea against a possible ballistic missile attack. For the first time, leaders in Washington had defense options available to them to protect American cities other than preemption, retaliation, or capitulation. (more) |
U.S. Conduct a Successful Missile Defense Test
 On 28th of September, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency conducted a successful test of its missile defense system. The target missile was launched at 1:00pm PDT from Kodiak, Alaska. Following detection of the simulated threat, a ground based interceptor missile was fired from Vandenberg AFB, California. At 1:16pm PDT, the interceptor impacted the target missile 120km into space, with collision speed exceeding 10,000 mph. (more)
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Missile Defense Negotiations Resume in Warsaw
 U.S. and Polish negotiators are meeting October 2 and 3 in Warsaw in a fourth round of discussions regarding construction of a missile interceptor site in Poland as part of the Ballistic Missile Defense system. The U.S. delegation is headed by Assistant Secretary of State John Rood, while the Polish side is led by Witold Waszczykowski, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (more)
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U.S. Congressional Delegation in Poland to Discuss Missile Defense
 A bipartisan congressional delegation visited Warsaw on September 13 to meet with senior Polish officials to discuss the proposal to locate ground-based interceptors on Polish territory as part of the European component of Ballistic Missile Defense. Chairman of the Strategic Forces Sub-committee Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) led the delegation, which included Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH). In their meetings, the group stressed the bipartisan nature of support in congress for missile defense, and highlighted the existing medium and short-range missile threat from the Middle East, as well as the projected threat of a long-range ballistic missile threat. The delegation’s visit followed briefings at NATO headquarters in Belgium regarding the European missile defense proposal and that it would be complementary to NATO’s plans for theater ballistic missile defense. (more)
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International Missile Defense Conference Held in Krakow
The Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS), in cooperation with the U.S. Consulate General in Krakow, organized a one-day conference on June 29 entitled, “Does Poland Need the Missile Shield?” The conference on the proposed American plan to locate a defensive missile system in Poland and radar system in the Czech Republic opened with welcome remarks by European Parliament MP and President of ISS, Bogdan Klich. U.S. Ambassador Victor Ashe described the main U.S. policy position on missile defense, outlining the threat and stressing that the proposed U.S. system is defensive and a part of the overall joint security of the United States and Europe. (more)
Polish Senators Learn About Missile Defense At Vandenberg Air Force Base
Members of the Polish Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Franciszek Adamczyk, Czeslaw Rybka and Ludwik Zalewski, visited Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as part of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. The Senators participated in a 10-day program June 24 – July 4 to learn about both missile defense (MDA) and how to develop a national guard in Poland. "We were able to get an impression of what MDA really is," said Senator Adamczyk, chair of the Polish Senate Defense Committee. "This was an opportunity to see it on the ground and we now see what we are talking about. It will mean more during our parliamentary discussion." The Senators also traveled to Chicago to visit the Illinois National Guard in order to understand how to develop reserve units within the branches of the Polish Armed Forces. To learn more about their visit, see http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123059242
Formal Negotiations on Missile Defense Open in WarsawFormal negotiations between the United States and Poland on missile defense opened on May 24 in Warsaw. The U.S. side was led by John Rood, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security. “The proposal that the United States has made for missile defense cooperation with Poland is something that we see as serving a broader purpose to promote a closer defense and security relationship between our two countries,” said Assistant Secretary Rood at a May 24 press conference with Poland’s lead negotiator, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski. The next round of negotiations will take place in late June in Washington, D.C. (AUDIO) (more)
U.S.-Poland Meet to Discuss Status of Forces Implementing Agreement
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Representatives of Poland and the United States met in Warsaw on May 14 to discuss a Status of Forces Implementing Agreement, a key element that would lay the groundwork for basing a European component of a U.S. missile defense system on Polish soil. The U.S. negotiating team was headed by Ambassador Robert Loftis, the State Department’s Senior Advisor for Security Negotiations and Agreements. U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe, characterized the meeting as a “good beginning, with an exchange of ideas and philosophies on how the negotiations should move forward.” The discussions focused on status of forces issues, which generally involve legal, taxation, customs and other issues regarding the property and personnel associated with the presence of U.S. forces abroad. Formal negotiations on missile defense will open on May 24 in Warsaw, and will be led by John Rood, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security. (more)
Rice, Gates Outline U.S. Strategy on Missile Defense
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates outlined the U.S. strategy on missile defense in the April 28/29 edition of the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. “Our goal is to field systems capable of protecting not only the United States and our forces, but also friends and allies like those in the transatlantic community. We all face an emerging common threat, and America has proposed a practical solution. Europe, above all, must know – based on its own modern history – that the time to cooperate is now, not when the threat is imminent.” To read the full text, click here.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Visits Poland
U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert M. Gates, visited Poland April 24-25. Secretary Gates met with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Minister of Defense Aleksander Szczyglo, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Fotyga and a group of Polish parliamentarians to discuss U.S.-Polish cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the U.S. proposal to place missile defense assets in Poland. “Poland – through its courage, its commitment to common values, and, yes, its suffering at the hands of Nazis and Communists – taught us that, in the end, freedom is indivisible. Poland taught us that the security of nations, and perhaps of all free nations, cannot be maintained in isolation,” said Secretary Gates. (more)
U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director and Under Secretary of Defense Visit PolandLieutenant General Henry A. Obering, Director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, and U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Ambassador Eric S. Edelman, visited Poland April 17-18. General Obering and Ambassador Edelman met with Polish government officials, parliamentarians, security experts, and members of the media to discuss the U.S. proposal to place missile defense assets in Poland. (more)
Successful Missile Defense Intercept Test Takes Place Off HawaiiLieutenant General Henry "Trey" Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced on April 6 the completion of a successful intercept test for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile defense element at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii. This was the first THAAD interceptor mission that was considered a Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) test, meaning that more than one element of the BMDS participated in the test. (more) (VIDEO)
U.S. Missile Defense Agency Deputy Director Visits Poland
U.S. Missile Defense Agency Deputy Director, Brigadier General Patrick O’Reilly, visited Poland March 28-29 to discuss U.S. missile defense plans in Europe. In addition to his meetings with senior Polish government officials, Brig. Gen. O’Reilly also met with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Polish Sejm and held a roundtable discussion with a group of leading Polish security experts on the technical details of the proposed European component of U.S. missile defense. To see a copy of Brig. Gen. O’Reilly’s power-point presentation, click here. (Note: 25 MB, may take a few minutes to download.) (more)
Op-Ed on Missile Defense by Ambassador Ashe in Newsweek Polska
The March 25 edition of Newsweek Polska carried an op-ed on U.S. missile defense plans by U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe. “Missile defense is a serious issue directly bearing upon the national security of both our nations, an issue transcending partisan politics and superficial judgments. All of us – governments, academics, journalists and politicians – owe it to the public to have a rational and fact-based discussion on the merits of the initiative,” wrote Ambassador Ashe. To read the full text of the Ambassador’s op-ed, click here. (more)
U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission: "Anti-Missile Shield Is Protection For All of Europe"
Kenneth Hillas, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, was in Krakow on March 26 to do a roundtable interview with national and regional journalists on the topic of missile defense. Mr. Hillas stressed that for the United States, defensive protection of Europe is a key priority. He added that the United States could build missile defense systems in the U.S. that would protect United States territory, but this would leave Europe vulnerable, and Europe’s security is critical to the United States. (more)
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried Discusses Missile Defense in WarsawU.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Daniel Fried, visited Warsaw March 20-21. Secretary Fried met with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga, and Minister of Defense Aleksander Szczyglo to discuss missile defense cooperation and other bilateral issues. He also met with opposition leaders to encourage their support. On March 21, Secretary Fried held a roundtable discussion at the U.S. Embassy with Polish and international journalists to discuss U.S. missile defense plans. “I have come here to listen to Poles, both in the government and the opposition, to hear their concerns. So that when negotiations start, they start off in the right way,” said Secretary Fried. Daniel Fried served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland from 1997 until 2001. For a full transcript of the roundtable discussion, click here. (AUDIO) (VIDEO)
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About the Embassy
