Minister States MoD Looking at Potential Threat from Vehicles from China, with Personnel Told to Avoid Secret Talk in Vehicles.
A defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the possible security risks posed by Chinese vehicles, and personnel have been instructed to avoid talking about classified information in all cars.
Safety Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to discuss secret material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
He stated that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, however noted that safety is a concern in all contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing threats of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential conversations in secure locations. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Security Background
The announcement comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and cause chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel has been directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This wider defence situation highlights the importance of strong measures and caution in all areas of government activities, including transport usage to discussions practices.
