In TI's assessment of 86 countries, Portugal appears in the group of countries with a high risk of corruption in the Defense sector, with 44 points out of a possible 100, below the European average (59/100).

“The results for Portugal show a positive evolution compared to the 2015 data, with emphasis on the thematic areas of political risk and risks associated with personnel management, but there are still problems in the prevention and mitigation of risks arising from the lack of inspection", refers TI in the publication 'Government Defense Integrity Index 2020´, which assesses the quality of institutional controls to manage corruption risks in defense and security institutions.

Speaking to Lusa agency, Karina Carvalho, executive director of TI Portugal, said that “some improvements were registered compared to 2015, but results regarding the operational area are still far below what would be expected, especially for a country that has so many responsibilities at an International level".

"What we are saying is that there has to be more transparency", said the official, stressing that in the defense sector "there is little published information".

According to Karina Carvalho, the data indicate that “a marked difference persists between the public reporting of information by the Ministry of National Defense and by the different branches of the Armed Forces”, whose public presence is practically non-existent.

TI states that, among the branches, "the Army tends to publish more information, whereas the Air Force does not", and that "none of the Directorates General of the Ministry of National Defense presents sufficiently detailed information about its activities and much of the information available is out of date”.