NEW POLISH GOVERNMENT LISTS MISSILE DEFENSE IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 003826 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2010 TAGS: MARR PREL PGOV PARM PL SUBJECT: NEW POLISH GOVERNMENT LISTS MISSILE DEFENSE IN PUBLIC DOCUMENT ON PRIORITIES REF: WARSAW 3806 Classified By: POLITICAL Counselor Mary Curtin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) In a published addendum to his November 10 expose to the Sejm (Parliament) in advance of the first vote of confidence in his newly formed government (reftel),PM Marcinkiewicz included a specific statement on missile defense cooperation with the United States. The statement listed as one of the new GOP's essential goals Poland's becoming the "third element of MDI." This particular passage of the GOP program, which was included in the Foreign Affairs subsection titled "Western Policy," received wide coverage in major dailies and on radio and TV over the November 11 Polish Independence Day holiday weekend, including a front page story November 14 in the daily "Gazeta Wyborcza." ¶2. (U) Embassy informal translation of the Missile Defense passage follows: BEGIN TEXT. In RELATIONS with the United States, an essential task allowing a deepening of the strategic partnership with that country would be (Poland's) explicit expression of readiness to take part in the Missile Defense System (MDI). We seek to have Poland included in the so-called "third element" of MDI, related to radar tracking and destruction. Our efforts in this direction will be successful, if we guarantee real coordination of the activities of the ministries engaged, especially the MFA and MOD, in the framework of the working group headed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. END TEXT. ¶3. (U) The November 14 Gazeta Wyborcza piece quoted a partial retraction by Marcinkiewicz of the published document, as well as critical comments from former GOP officials and others. Marcinkiewicz said on November 12 that, "No decisions have been taken and we will thoroughly analyze everything and only then inform the public whether it's good or bad for Poland." Former FM Adam Rotfeld called the public discussion of the matter "amateurish," and added that "We're conducting a delicate dialogue on this matter with the United States, we were asked to be discreet, and now something like this shows up in government documents." Civic Platform leader Jan Rokita commented that "up until now the U.S. had been seeking our cooperation (on MDI),but now it appears we are seeking theirs." Former DefMin Jerzy Szmajdzinski suggested that Poland's "overzealousness could be received badly by our NATO allies and Russia." ¶4. (C) MFA Americas Department Deputy Director Pawel Dobrowolski told PolMil Chief November 14 that the MDI passage had been the result of "an unfortunate editing error by the Prime Minister's staff. They included in this public document information that had been provided to them for internal consumption only." He made very clear that the MFA had never intended for this information to be published, and noted former FM Rotfeld's statement in particular. ¶4. (C) COMMENT. During the electoral campaign, many domestic and foreign analysts worried that PiS had much less foreign and security policy experience than Civic Platform, and this first foreign policy misstep of the new GOP seems to bear that out. Dobrowolski's boss at the MFA, Americas Director Amb. Henryk Szlajfer told us several weeks ago that the new government was "very eager on Missile Defense," and that they were hoping for an early decision on a third site, raising the possibility that the PM's office chose intentionally to publish heretofore internal, if not technically classified, information. We believe, however, that Dobrowolski's and Rotfeld's assessment of the matter is more likely. Nonetheless, including this information in a public document apparently without consulting MFA or MOD in advance is not a good sign. Fortunately, the weekend flurry of media coverage is likely to wane quickly, and Missile Defense will fade once again from the public eye. HILLAS