Statesmen's Forum: H.E. Tomasz Siemoniak, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

Please join us for a Statesmen’s Forum featuring Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Tomasz Siemoniak, for a discussion on the deterioration of Europe’s security environment in the Baltic Sea region and Poland, as well as NATO’s response to this changed environment. As a consequence of Russian military aggression in Ukraine and its unprecedented level of regional military exercises and air and maritime incursions, Poland has enhanced its territorial defense and deterrence measures in close cooperation with the United States and NATO partners through the U.S. European Reassurance Initiative (ERI), NATO’s Readiness Action Plan and the augmentation of the Multi-National Corps-Northeast Headquarters in Szczecin, Poland. What more must Poland and NATO do to deter regional grey-zone threats? As preparations begin for next year’s NATO Summit in Warsaw, does NATO have the political will and defense capabilities to deter a potential escalation of the crisis? Has the United States devoted sufficient policy attention to this long-term security challenge in Northern Europe?

Minister Siemoniak’s visit to CSIS coincides with the release of a new publication, “Transatlantic Relations in a Changing European Security Environment,” as part of a new CSIS-Polish Defense Ministry transatlantic security initiative known as the Warsaw Defense Dialogue which was officially launched in December 2015.

With introductory remarks by

Dr. John J. Hamre
President, CEO, and
The Pritzker Chair, CSIS

Moderated by

Ms. Heather A. Conley
Senior Vice President for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic
Director of the CSIS Europe Program

This event is made possible by general support to CSIS