Ministries ordered to identify measures necessary for development of comprehensive national defense

RIGA - The government on Tuesday ordered all ministries to carry out an analysis by September 1, 2019 to identify possible problems and necessary measures related to the planned development of a comprehensive national defense system.

The government at a meeting on Tuesday heard the Defense Ministry’s report on the development of the comprehensive national defense system. In the report the ministry says that threats to Latvia's security have reached such a level of complexity that they cannot be dealt with by military means alone, which do not cover all dimensions of hybrid threats. National defense of Latvia has to be comprehensive and based in the readiness of all public institutions and the nation to overcome a crisis, it has to be resilient to external influence and able to resist and regenerate after a crisis. To that effect, there has to be mutual trust and partnership between the general public and state institutions.

According to the Defense Ministry, a comprehensive national defense system means all Latvian residents' commitment to their country and readiness to defend it. The development of comprehensive national defense will be decentralized, as state institutions will cooperate with each other to reach the necessary decisions, and the entire process will be supervised by the Defense Ministry.

The report says that Latvia's military defense is based on the psychological readiness to resist occupation, which requires that the weakest links in the defense system be timely strengthened and secured. The entire nation will be involved, and every resident will know his or her place and role in the resistance movement.

According to the Defense Ministry, the development of the comprehensive national defense system will be planned in the short, medium and long term. In the short term, from 2019 to 2021, the focus will be on the development of Latvia's military capabilities, the Armed Forces and the Home Guard, as well as on measures fostering cooperation between the private and public sector for national defense purposes, and on educating society.

In the medium and long term, a decision-making mechanism will be developed on the national and municipal levels to coordinate comprehensive national defense, and a partnership institute will be created where representatives from government institutions, Armed Forces and private sector will cooperate for better planning and implementation of national defense measures.