An defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible security risks associated with Chinese vehicles, and staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about secret information in all cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about classified information while riding in China-made cars.
The minister said that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but noted that security is a concern in all contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for everyone worried about security.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Broader Security Background
This announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
The wider defence environment underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of government operations, from transport usage to communication practices.
