Latvia: Defending Our Country with the Resources We Have

Posted: January 25th, 2017

By Jānis Garisons

Jānis Garisons is Latvia's Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defense. Prior to that he was Undersecretary of State-Policy Director in the Ministry (2013-2015), and prior to that he was the Ministry's Policy Director (2008-2013). Garisons has also held positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Director of the Security Policy Department and Head of the Regional Co-operation and Arms Control Division. He received a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College in 2014 and a Master of History from the University of Latvia in 1996.

Latvia – like neighbors Estonia and Lithuania – is increasing defense spending and working to build a coordinated defense. This year, NATO member states, including the U.S., are deploying troops to be stationed in each of the Baltic nations, as a deterrence to Russia. Latvia’s State Secretary at the Ministry of Defense Jānis Garisons tells The Cipher Brief the Baltics also cooperate on procurement and even have a joint Baltic Defense College. The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder spoke with Garisons about these and other Baltic defense developments.

The Cipher Brief: Did Latvia increase defense spending starting in 2014, as a recent IHS Markit report suggests, or did the increase start before that? And why?

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+