An defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible security risks associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been instructed to avoid talking about secret matters in any cars.
Security Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD staff have been told not to talk about classified information while travelling in China-made cars.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, however noted that security is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD technology into their car, not to have conversations at a classified classification in any kind of car, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in all automobile, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
The announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been directing laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
This wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong measures and vigilance in all aspects of official activities, from transport use to discussions practices.
