Friday 8 April 2011

Dumbfounded.... At the Lack of Military Security Culture

I was unpleasantly suprised by this article on the new Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers.

Not by anything directly relating to the carriers themselves, but to parts of the article itself.

First off, lets remind ourselves that these are serious bits of military kit; they are (hopefully) at the cutting edge of military technology; they are important military assets: their capability and any weak points should be kept secret, the people working on them are security cleared.

Why then in this report would there be two points to the contrary?

First, its reported that Chinese workers have also been vetted... I assume any Chinese security agency will either have an agent working as part of the team, or at least the workers will be reporting back to China on the carrier's capabilities "just in case".

Second, the suggestion that the carriers be made in Korea.... the mind boggles: these aren't cruise liners, these are top security military assets.

I just don't understand the mentality of military planning when it comes to issues like this. When it comes to military assets, security is paramount and unless the country involved in helping build those assets is a very solid ally, they should be excluded from the knowledge base.

To do otherwise would seriously compromise our military ability, which I'm ashamed to say seems to be happening.