An defence official has revealed that the MoD is currently investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been instructed to avoid talking about secret information in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD staff have been told not to talk about secret information while travelling in China-made cars.
He explained that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however noted that security is a issue in all modern cars.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Security Background
The announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This broader defence environment underscores the significance of strong protocols and caution in every areas of official activities, from transport use to discussions practices.
