A defence official has revealed that the MoD is currently looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, and personnel have been told to refrain from discussing secret matters in any cars.
Security Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss classified information while travelling in China-made cars.
He explained that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a concern in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a wise and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all cars from China, Pollard responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
The announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The wider security environment underscores the importance of robust measures and vigilance in every aspects of official operations, including vehicle usage to discussions habits.
