WARSAW
CIA Director John Ratcliffe paid an undisclosed visit to Poland this week, holding talks with senior Polish security officials amid heightened tensions on NATO’s eastern flank, Polish media reported on Friday.
While no details of the talks were made public, Polish media and security analysts have noted that the visit comes amid ongoing concerns over security in northeastern Poland, including the strategic Suwalki Gap — a narrow corridor linking Poland to the Baltic states between Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave and Belarus.
Public broadcaster RMF FM said Ratcliffe met with Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Tomasz Siemoniak, coordinator of Poland’s special services, citing a source in Washington.
Several Polish media outlets separately confirmed that the meeting took place, though the US side requested that the subject of the discussions not be disclosed.
Neither the CIA nor Poland’s Defense Ministry commented officially on the visit.
The Suwałki Gap is widely regarded by NATO as one of the alliance’s most vulnerable points in the event of a conflict with Russia. Western officials have repeatedly stressed the importance of intelligence cooperation and contingency planning in the region, particularly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Poland has sharply increased defense spending in recent years and hosts a growing US and NATO military presence, positioning itself as a key frontline ally in Europe.
The reported visit underscores close intelligence coordination between Warsaw and Washington at a time of persistent regional instability, even as both sides remain publicly tight-lipped about the scope of cooperation.