Terras: Estonian military intelligence improved immensely
Riho Terras, the Chief of Defense of Estonia, said that the country's military intelligence capability developed fast in the last year.
“They proved to be a very professional organization which did much more than planned. Many people from NATO structures have confirmed to me that information coming from the Estonian military intelligence, and its right timing, made a basis for many decisions,” Terras said to Postimees.
According to Terras, the Estonian agents have been well respected when it comes to early warning intelligence, but there are steps to be taken to improve counterintelligence. The obstacle to achieve this so far has been lack of necessary personnel and officers.
“We have set a target to expand and employ 50 new people per year, but there are people that you cannot just “pick from the street”. It takes 20 years to train a lieutenant colonel, for example,“ Terras said.
Editor: S. Tambur