Herem, a former commander of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) is a Reform Party appointee and met with the Riigikogu faction of Reform's coalition partner, Eesti 200, on Monday morning, to outline his plans as minister.

"We wanted to understand what his plans are, what his strategy is, how he intends to achieve the maximum possible result during these six months, what he wants to get done, and so on. We received very good answers to our questions," MP and faction leader Toomas Uibo said after the meeting.

According to Uibo, Herem's experience and knowledge are extremely important for making the right decisions in the defense sector. "He can see areas where things have been moving very slowly but should be moving considerably faster. As he himself put it, the question was not really how many guns, rounds or shells we have, but how the entire system is structured – how we should be operating," Uibo went on.

"He is quite clearly guided by data. The gap today is largely that we lack data on how to do one thing or another. He also draws very effectively on Ukraine's experience, which we have so far been unable to fully adopt and learn from in the best possible way," Uibo added.

The MP said communicating the threat of war to the public in a more measured manner was also discussed.

"The defense minister candidate himself raised the issue and said that he has not actually engaged in that kind of warmongering and does not support it. We need to approach this very calmly, but we also need to clearly understand what both our intelligence services and those of our allies are saying, and take it very seriously. People must remain informed about the threats that actually exist; they must not be hidden from them. I think this is Herem's message," Uibo said.

Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) last week announced he would officially offer Herem the defense minister position, citing his experience and knowledge of needed improvements at the Ministry of Defense , and Herem accepted. As a precondition, he required that defense spending remain at 5 percent of GDP to address the threat from Russia. Herem had been on vacation and recently arrived back in Estonia.

His appointment has drawn concern from defense experts over his ties to defense industry private sector firms including Milrem Robotics and Frankenburg Technologies, and the associated risk of conflict of interest.

The vacancy arose after Hanno Pevkur tendered his resignation from the post on September 2, amid a defense procurement scandal. Herem has announced plans for a full audit of Estonia's defense readiness.

Herem also set as a precondition to taking the job, the removal from office of Kaimo Kuusk as Ministry of Defense permanent secretary. Kuusk had been in the job two years.

Herem: If president signs off on appointment, I could take oath of office Wednesday

Although under the Reform-Eesti 200 coalition agreement the defense minister's post is to be filled by the Reform Party, Herem felt that he also had the support of its partner. "Yes, firstly I feel that, and secondly, at the end of the meeting they also said that they support me," Herem, EDF commander 2018-2024, said.

Herem nevertheless had to answer several questions from Eesti 200 MPs. "We talked about what I have been doing over the past two years and my background, and whether I have ended my ties with private businesses. Yes, I have been an employee of companies, not a company executive or owner, so those employment relationships are over. We talked about the recent events concerning the procurement of shells and warehouse management, and what the problems are there. They mostly asked me how seriously I take all of this, and I take it seriously. And then we talked about comprehensive national defense and the defense minister's role in all of that," Herem went on.

Herem said that if President Alar Karis signs the government's decision to nominate him, he will take the oath of office before the Riigikogu on Wednesday.

As his first steps as minister, Herem said he would get an overview of the shortcomings in warehouse management and the plan for putting the situation in order.

"Then I can see whether I actually need to add very much to it at all or simply continue what Hanno Pevkur has already been doing. I definitely want to look at how our developments are progressing in three areas – the Baltic Sea, air defense and the Baltic Defense Line. These could be areas where we make significant progress over the next six months, or at least prepare decisions that would allow us to move forward very quickly in those areas," Herem said.

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