An defense official has revealed that the MoD is actively investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while staff have been advised to avoid talking about classified matters in all cars.
Security Advice for Defence Staff
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about secret material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister stated that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, however emphasised that security is a concern in every modern cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any car, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in all automobile, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using every cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Defence Context
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The broader defence environment underscores the importance of robust protocols and caution in all aspects of official operations, including vehicle usage to discussions practices.
