In December 2015, the anticorruption watchdog Transparency International warned that Ukraine’s defense sector faces “a high risk of corruption.” TI named the country’s opaque procurement process as the highest-risk area for corruption. Assessing the defense spheres of NATO members and partner states, TI gave Ukraine a D on an A to F scale, primarily for its lack of transparency.
Fortunately, this problem has not gone unaddressed. At the behest of the Ukrainian government, the RAND Corporation studied Ukraine’s defense sector. Its findings, “Security Sector Reform of Ukraine,” were issued a year ago but published only recently. In response, this summer the Ukrainian government adopted a comprehensive reform program for the defense and security sector, the Strategic Defense Bulletin. Relying mostly on the recommendations presented in the RAND study, the document is a road map for the defense sector’s overhaul, covering the overall architecture of the security sector, the structure of defense institutions, the use of resources, cybersecurity, and cooperation with global partners. The bulletin is in line with NATO standards, and received positive feedback at the NATO Summit in Warsaw in July.
