An altogether common assumption amongst Western and many Central/Eastern officials is that the post-Communist defense institutions have, more or less, been successful in adopting Western concepts of defense governance. A careful review of the data strongly suggests that these organizations remain largely bound by Communist-legacy defense concepts which inhibit them from producing defense outcomes. As such, it is unclear whether these armed forces are capable of contributing effectively to the Alliance’s common defense. Despite being ‘relatively’ reformed by regional standards, the paper argues that the Slovenian defense institution harbors some legacy practices (e.g. centralization of decision-making) and weaknesses (e.g. defense planning) that urgently need to be addressed by Slovenian political and defense officials.