A defence official has revealed that the MoD is actively examining the possible security risks associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while personnel have been instructed to avoid talking about secret matters in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about classified material while travelling in Chinese cars.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but stressed that security is a issue in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Security Background
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to switch off public transport and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The broader defence situation highlights the significance of strong measures and caution in every areas of official operations, including transport use to discussions habits.
