An defense official has confirmed that the MoD is actively examining the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while personnel have been advised to refrain from talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister explained that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that safety is a concern in all modern vehicles.
We have a fleet of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a classified classification in any car, due to the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. That’s a wise and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow China to switch off public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel has been shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
The wider security environment underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in all areas of official operations, including transport usage to communication habits.
