U.S. and Polish defense officials are in the final stage of discussions about increasing the U.S. military presence in the former Soviet bloc country, and Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak has all but guaranteed a deal will be signed by the end of the year. These negotiations come eight months after Polish President Andrzej Duda traveled to the White House and publicly broached the possibility of a so-called “Fort Trump” on Polish territory. “We believe that the presence of the United States is a guarantor of security in our part of Europe,” Duda said at the time.

There is no question that an additional influx of U.S. troops and the construction of a permanent U.S. military base in Poland would serve Polish security interests. In fact, a Fort Trump (or Bush or Obama) has been a long-standing policy goal for various governments in Warsaw over the last two decades. For Washington to seriously consider the proposal, let alone actively court it, is a significant policy achievement for Poland.