Government Official Confirms MoD Investigating Security Risk from Chinese Cars, as Personnel Instructed to Avoid Confidential Discussions in Cars.
An defense minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the possible security risks posed by Chinese cars, while personnel have been advised to avoid discussing secret matters in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
In a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about classified material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, however noted that security is a concern in every modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any kind of car, because of the growing risks of surveillance that exist in every single automobile, to only have those confidential conversations 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 all Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
The broader security situation underscores the significance of robust measures and vigilance in every aspects of official operations, including vehicle use to discussions habits.