A defence official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential security risks associated with Chinese vehicles, and staff have been advised to avoid discussing secret information in all cars.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about secret material while riding in China-made cars.
He stated that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a concern in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in all automobile, to only have those confidential talks in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
This announcement comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to switch off public transport and bring disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider defence situation highlights the significance of robust protocols and caution in every areas of government operations, including vehicle usage to discussions practices.
