A set of leaked excerpts from what is described as a longer, unreleased draft of the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy suggests that Washington has contemplated a bold geopolitical objective: loosening the European Union’s hold over several member states, with Poland identified as a priority target.
According to reporting by Defense One, the extended document also urged the United States to lend support to political forces committed to national sovereignty and to defending what it termed traditional European cultural foundations.
The revelations surfaced just as senior security advisers to Poland’s right-wing president, Karol Nawrocki—one of Donald Trump’s closest partners in Europe—arrived in Washington for consultations with U.S. officials about the newly issued strategy. The publicly available, 33-page version released last week had already raised eyebrows by warning of a looming “civilizational erasure” in Europe and questioning whether some European states could remain dependable allies. It accused EU institutions of eroding liberty and sovereignty and criticised migration policies that, in Washington’s view, were destabilising the continent.
Defense One reported that the more expansive draft had circulated among officials before publication of the unclassified edition. In that version, Poland, Austria, Italy, and Hungary were explicitly named as countries with which the U.S. should engage more closely “to pull them away from the European Union.” The same document argued that Washington ought to assist political parties, movements, and intellectual or cultural actors dedicated to national sovereignty and the protection—or restoration—of Europe’s traditional ways of life, provided they also remained aligned with American interests.
Such ambitions would be consistent with the Trump administration’s earlier posture toward Central Europe, particularly its cordial relations with leaders such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Poland’s Nawrocki. Orbán has recently praised the public NSS document on social media, stating that “America has a precise understanding of Europe’s decline.”
The Polish president has long advocated sweeping reforms of the EU to curb Brussels’ authority, accusing the European institutions of intruding excessively into the daily lives of citizens. For Nawrocki, the transatlantic partnership remains the cornerstone of Poland’s strategic orientation.
Despite these political dynamics, Polish public opinion remains firmly pro-EU. Although a minority expressing support for a potential ‘Polexit’ has grown in recent polls, large majorities continue to favour remaining within the Union. This adds a layer of complexity to any external attempt to reshape Warsaw’s relationship with Brussels.
The visit of Nawrocki’s National Security Bureau (BBN) delegation to Washington this week appears to underscore the significance that both governments attach to bilateral security ties. BBN deputy chief Andrzej Kowalski stated that the discussions offered an opportunity to seek clarification on issues “that cannot possibly be addressed in the document itself.” Another BBN adviser, Nikodem Rachoń, noted that Poland was the first European partner to engage the U.S. administration on the details of the strategy, describing the talks as evidence of American openness to deeper bilateral cooperation.
Reactions in Warsaw’s liberal, pro-EU governing camp were markedly more sceptical. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, responding shortly after the strategy’s publication, reminded his “American friends” that Europe had been the United States’ closest ally for eight decades. He stressed that shared threats demanded unity and questioned whether Washington’s strategic assessment signalled a shift in that longstanding alignment.
