An defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the possible threats posed by Chinese-made cars, and personnel have been told to avoid discussing secret matters in all vehicles.
Security Guidance for MoD Staff
In a recent appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss secret information while riding in China-made vehicles.
He stated that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however stressed that security is a issue in every modern vehicles.
We have a fleet of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
But 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 technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any vehicle, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in all vehicle, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been shining lasers at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider security environment highlights the significance of robust protocols and caution in every aspects of government operations, including vehicle usage to discussions habits.
