MoD Wants 'More Bang for Buck' in New Defense Plan
The Ministry of Defense has begun drafting its National Defense Development Plan for 2013-2022, with Defense Minister Mart Laar calling for cutting bureaucracy, reducing the number of headquarters and consolidating support services.
"We can no longer continue the situation where Estonia has several air and naval fleets, duplicating state ports and sea surveillance centers,” Laar said, referring to the nation's defense and law enforcement agencies.
“This is why the new development plan must ensure that bureaucracy and duplication would also be reduced in the defense administration and that the Defense Forces would be freed from numerous supporting activities and allowed to focus on increasing their fighting power,” he said.
Laar said that that Estonia will increase its defense expenditure to 2 percent of GDP - the agreed NATO minimum - from next year, and that efforts would have to be made to ensure that every cent taxpayers give for defense is used wisely and efficiently.
The new 10-year plan, which will replace the Defense Forces Long-Term Development Plan for 2009-2018 currently in force, will be built around threat scenarios prepared by the security services and an analysis of what defense capabilities are required to eliminate those threats, the ministry said.
The plan is to be drafted by a broad-based working group consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Defense, the Defense Forces and the Defense League along with representatives from a number of ministries. The document should be ready by the end of this year.
Steve Roman