[FairOpinion]

"One R/C model airplane can hold a very small amount of agent, which means its lethal footprint is going to be very small."
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Suppose they get a 100 toy-airplanes and release each over school yards during recess, parks, beaches, a sports event, and maybe millions won't die, but thousands will. Just think of the panic that would cause. Just think of the panic a few letters with anthrax and deaths in single digits caused. (Every death is important, I don't try to minimize the loss of life during the anthrax attacks, but I am just trying to put it in context.) They don't need to kill millions, although they may. There are some of these chemical weapons, which stick to surfaces, and less than a milligram is lethal. And of course there are the biological weapons, like smallpox, where it may not be discovered until days later, by which time many more people are infected. The "Dark Winter" sallpox attack simulation started with just a few infected cases in I think just one city, and when they stopped it, worst case, there were over a million dead.

[Poohbah]

Suppose they get a 100 toy-airplanes and release each over school yards during recess, parks, beaches, a sports event, and maybe millions won't die, but thousands will.

More like "tens will die."

Seriously, there's limits on how much payload an R/C plane can carry. 100 planes equals 100 operators flying them, and the tangos will start having OPSEC issues. Also, R/C planes ain't the easiest things to fly.

There are some of these chemical weapons, which stick to surfaces, and less than a milligram is lethal.

IN THEORY, less than a milligram is lethal.

The problem is distributing a small quantity of agent so that lots of people come in contact with a milligram.

It's not easy to solve.

And of course there are the biological weapons, like smallpox, where it may not be discovered until days later, by which time many more people are infected. The "Dark Winter" sallpox attack simulation started with just a few infected cases in I think just one city, and when they stopped it, worst case, there were over a million dead.

The "Dark Winter" worst-case scenario specifically excluded standard prophylactic techniques and assumed that the average American was dumb as a box of rocks.