A defence official has revealed that the MoD is actively examining the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, while personnel have been advised to refrain from discussing classified matters in all cars.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to talk about classified material while riding in China-made cars.
The minister said that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles 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 cars in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any car, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in all automobile, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
The revelation comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
The wider security environment highlights the significance of strong protocols and vigilance in every aspects of official activities, including transport use to discussions practices.
