Last fall, the National Defense Committee of the Riigikogu unanimously decided to have a report drafted, led by MP Meelis Kiili, on Estonia's preparedness to prevent and coutner security threats in a deteriiorating security situation.

Although the plan to draw up a national defense report sparked some controversy, the committee unanimously agreed to move forward with it.

ERR asked Kiili how the report's development is going, and when it would be ready.

"First of all, why it's necessary — this is the regular work of the Riigikogu," he explained. "Reports are parliamentary oversight over the executive power. It's necessary to do some sort of system analysis regarding how decisions are made, the quality of these decisions, the bottlenecks, and how these bottlenecks can be avoided and improved in the future."

The MP noted that the team behind the report has met with various institutions, including the commanders of Estonia's military branches, deputy secretaries general as well as the interior minister. He added that these meetings have involved seminar-style discussions.

This week, the working group met with the Defense Resources Agency (KRA) and the Top Civil Service Excellence Center.

"We've met with the KRA several times already," Kiili said. "We just need additional information; it's not all just based on interviews. We also need documentation; we need to examine and work through their documentation. We were just there discussing and clarifying what we want."

He explained that the working group involved in the preparation of the report is a cross-party group.

"To achieve a report that is as objective as possible, it needs to be cross-party," the Reform MP noted. "Almost every party is represented in the working group. We have also talked with various experts in the field. We want to involve the Estonian Academy of Sciences (ETA)."

He also described the process involved in compiling the report.

"First, we will process all of the material, and put our findings, analyses and proposals in writing," Kiili said. "But in order to be sure this document has substance, I will first submit it to an expert group for evaluation; most of them have already agreed to it. And then, after that, it will be published."

The report must be ready in time for the start of the Riigikogu's fall session.

"During the summer, the working group will sit down and do the analytical and editorial work," the MP noted. "We've dedicated the summer to this. We want to wrap up with interviews and collecting documentation before Midsummer. Then, July and August will be intensive work, and the initial draft should be ready by September. And the final product needs to be ready by mid-September."

Reports are nothing unusual

Kiili admitted that he had been puzzled by the controversy surrounding the report.

"I was personally surprised when we were initially criticized for starting work on the report," he recalled. "I think the criticism should have been directed at the Riigikogu for never having fulfilled the tasks legally assigned to the Riigikogu and drawn up this report."

Kiili, a retired major general and former commander of the volunteer Estonian Defense League (EDL), pointed out that there hasn't been a report like this in defense or security for over ten years, but that reports are drawn up all the time.

"The Economic Affairs Committee has done one; the Environment Committee has done one," he cited as examples. "In the other committees, there hasn't been such turbulence or heightened interest."

Kiili emphasized that the picture is much clearer now, even at the level of hypotheses. Nonetheless, he did not divulge what has been revealed about the field in the process.

"What I've learned, you'll read in the report," he said. "I'm not going to start releasing raw material right now."

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