13 September 2011 (BNS)

The Estonian Defense Ministry has submitted to a meeting of the Cabinet a bill that would initiate the drafting of the national defense development plan for 2013–2022.

In accordance with the new concept of security the modern security environment requires embracing a broader specter of areas for the defense of the country than just military defense. Therefore in February this year the military defense development plan was renamed national defense development plan, the Defense Ministry said.

The National Defense Strategy that took effect in January this year lists six areas as important for national defense: military defense, civilian sector's support for military defense, international activity, ensuring continuity of vital services, and ensuring internal security and psychological defense.

According to the hierarchy of planning documents set out in the Peace-Time National Defense Act, the Foreign Ministry together with other government institutions shall first draw up a document on the bases of Estonia's security policy. That document predicts potential security risks, defines the goals in developing various security sectors and support stable development of the country's security sectors.

After that the Defense Ministry shall draft the strategic plan of national defense, which has to be endorsed by the government. The plan sets out danger scenarios, the level of ambition of national defense, as well as describes Estonia's general defense arrangement and defines the priorities of military defense.

As a follow-up the Defense Ministry and the defense forces shall together draft a national defense development plan that also needs to be endorsed by the government. The document lists the military capabilities to be developed over a longer time frame and describes the human, time and financial resources necessary to achieve them. The ten-year development plan is subjected to a review every four years.