A defense minister has stated that the MoD is actively examining the potential security risks associated with Chinese-made cars, while staff have been instructed to avoid discussing classified matters in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
In a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss classified information while travelling in Chinese cars.
The minister stated that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that security is a concern in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles account for a very small number.
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 Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, because of the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
This announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and bring disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship has been directing lasers at RAF aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider defence environment highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in every areas of official operations, including transport usage to communication habits.
