An defence official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the possible security risks associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been told to refrain from talking about secret information in all cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret material while riding in China-made cars.
He said that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however emphasised that security is a issue in all modern cars.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any kind of car, due to the increasing risks of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard replied: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
The revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off buses and cause chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel has been shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
This wider defence environment highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in every areas of government activities, including transport use to communication habits.
