An defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been instructed to avoid talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Security Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that MoD staff have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in China-made cars.
He stated that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however noted that safety is a concern in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving 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 secret level in any kind of car, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
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 exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
This revelation comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese buses, which could allow China to switch off buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The wider defence situation underscores the importance of robust measures and vigilance in every aspects of government operations, including transport usage to discussions practices.
