A defense official has revealed that the MoD is actively looking into the potential security risks associated with Chinese vehicles, while personnel have been instructed to refrain from talking about classified matters in all cars.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about classified information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a issue in all contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their car, not to have discussions at a secret classification in any vehicle, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
This announcement comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel has been shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This wider security situation underscores the importance of robust measures and vigilance in every areas of government operations, including transport usage to communication practices.
