A defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while staff have been told to avoid talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Security Advice for MoD Staff
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to discuss classified material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however stressed that security is a issue in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However whether you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to restrict those secret talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
The broader defence environment underscores the importance of strong measures and vigilance in every aspects of official activities, including vehicle usage to communication practices.
