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The internal RCMP documents were obtained under access-to-information laws by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin.

One of the documents, an intelligence assessment dated March of this year, acknowledges that experts are divided about how much of a threat UAVs pose given that alleged plots around the world have been successfully thwarted.

Experts are divided about a UAV’s “ability to hit a target in a precise manner (e.g. within centimetres) and to detonate (improvised explosive devices) IEDs or disperse chemical/biological agents at the desired time,” the assessment states.

“It would be also be very difficult to refine an effective dispersal device for chem/bio agents and to obtain or develop biological agents.”

Still, “some attack scenarios may warrant further scientific study to determine their feasibility and requisite safeguards,” the document states.

It notes that there have been at least 13 cases from 1995 to 2013 in which extremists planned or attempted to modify remote-controlled aircraft to launch attacks against targets, including the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, the House of Commons in Britain, and the military headquarters in Pakistan.

Most of the alleged plots were disrupted in the planning phase, while others were foiled during the testing phase.

Still, there was an embarrassing incident in 2013 in which activists with the German Pirate Party crashed a mini-drone at the feet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other dignitaries during a campaign event. “While the UAV did not contain weapons, some experts concluded that the incident demonstrates the threat posed by UAVs that could be modified by extremists,” the RCMP document stated.