At large-scale events, both public and private, it has become common to see an camera drone buzzing around in the sky above, beaming back aerial footage to its controllers on the ground.
However, if a person with nefarious intent were so inclined, they could quite easily attach a remote-controlled bomb to one of these drones, and it would instantly be transformed into a deadly killing machine with almost unimaginable destructive capabilities that would sow terror among the public.
On Aug. 6, media reported on an attempted drone attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro while he was giving a speech at an open-air event. Reports indicated that several drones were used in the attack, which suddenly flew toward the stage and exploded.
The president and his wife were left shaken, but survived the suspected assassination attempt, although seven Venezuelan National Guard soldiers were seriously injured.
Drones, which can be controlled by nothing more than a smartphone, have become a mainstream product.
These high-tech devices have a diverse range of functions. In addition to being marketed and sold as consumer entertainment products, drones can be used to do everything from video recording and conducting topographical research and land mine surveys to performing a wide variety of other commercial, agricultural and military tasks.
However, if the use of drones is not strictly regulated, they could pose a national security threat and be adopted by criminals.
A good example of the threat that drones pose to national security occurred on Feb. 24, 2015, when former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was attending a Straits Exchange Foundation function at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. A foreign-operated camera drone lost control and crashed onto the road only 20m from the car that Ma was traveling in, causing panic among the president’s security team.
Another example is the attempted jailbreak at Kaohsiung Prison in February 2015. Six inmates, who were serving sentences for serious crimes, took the prison warden hostage with rifles and handguns.
A media organization reporting on the incident used a drone to obtain pictures of the unfolding situation inside the prison. The drone’s intrusion enraged the hostage takers, who shot more than 20 rounds at the machine.
The drone’s appearance nearly caused an already volatile situation to slip out of control and seriously affected police’s ability to deal with the situation.
The suspected drone attack on the Venezuelan president by opposition groups is the first known example of a drone being used in an assassination attempt on a president, and as such, has received a great deal of attention around the world.
Those in charge of Taiwan’s national security must carefully examine the incident in Venezuela, learn from it and formulate an effective plan to prevent a similar attack from occurring on Taiwanese soil.
Yao Chung-yuan is a former deputy director of the Ministry of National Defense’s strategic planning department and an adjunct university professor.
Translated by Edward Jones
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