NEW AI helping to identify undiagnosed genetic disorders in children
Researchers have developed the world's first algorithm powered by artificial intelligence to identify children with undiagnosed rare genetic disorders.
A former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst who once helped find targets for deadly U.S. drone strikes was sentenced to 45 months in prison for leaking top-secret details about the program.
Daniel Hale, 33, told a federal judge he felt compelled to leak information to a journalist out of guilt over his own participation in a program that he believed was indiscriminately killing civilians in Afghanistan far from the battlefield.
"It is wrong to kill," Hale said in a defiant statement in which he accepted responsibility for his actions, but also pleaded for mercy. "It is especially wrong to kill the defenseless."
But U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady told Hale he had other avenues for airing his concerns besides leaking to a journalist. Citing the need to deter others from illegal disclosures, he imposed a punishment that was harsher than the 12- to 18-month term sought by Hale's attorneys but significantly more lenient than the longer sentence sought by prosecutors.
"You could have resigned from the military," or told "your commanders you weren't going to do this anymore," O'Grady told Hale.
The prosecution is one in a series of cases the Justice Department has brought in recent years against current and former government officials who have disclosed classified secrets to journalists. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new guidelines this month to bar prosecutors from subpoenaing journalists' records in leak probes, but the department has shown no signs of scaling back efforts to charge officials whom they identify as having leaked national security information.
Prosecutors have argued that Hale, who deployed to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in 2012 and was honorably discharged the following year, abused the government's trust and knew the documents he was sharing "risked causing serious, and in some cases exceptionally grave, damage to the national security" but leaked them anyway. They say that documents leaked by Hale were found in an internet compilation of material designed to help Islamic State fighters avoid detection.
Hale's stated rationale that he was attempting to expose injustices surrounding the military's drone program has earned him support among whistleblower advocates and among critics of the government's war efforts, some of whom held supportive signs outside the courthouse and attended Tuesday's sentencing hearing.
But prosecutors painted a different portrait. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg said the impact of Hale's actions was not to contribute to a public debate over war but rather to "endanger the people doing the fighting." He said that even if it was not Hale's intent to aid a terror organization, that was what he did.
The Justice Department said Hale began communicating with a journalist in April 2013 while still in the Air Force. The following February, while working as a defense contractor at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Hale printed six classified documents that were each later published. He provided additional documents to the reporter that were published in whole or in part, including 11 that were marked as top secret or secret, prosecutors said.
He pleaded guilty earlier this year.
While court papers never specified the recipient of the leak, details about the case make it clear that the documents were given to Jeremy Scahill, a reporter at The Intercept, who used the documents as part of a series of critical reports on how the military conducted drone strikes on foreign targets.
The arguments Tuesday were less about whether Hale leaked the records -- he openly acknowledges doing so -- and more about his rationale for his actions and what role that should play in the sentence calculation.
Defense lawyers argued that he was motivated by his own conscience and that his leaks didn't jeopardize national security.
"He committed the offense to bring attention to what he believed to be immoral government conduct committed under the cloak of secrecy and contrary to public statements of then-President Obama regarding the alleged precision of the United States military's drone program," defense lawyers wrote in a filing last week.
Prosecutors painted Hale as eager to ingratiate himself with journalists, but Hale described himself as racked with angst over the role his actions may have played in the taking of innocent lives. He had served as a signals intelligence analyst, helping locate targets for drone strikes by tracking down cellphone signals.
He said in court Tuesday that he had wanted to dispel the idea that "drone warfare keeps us safe," and the documents he leaked showed among other things that the drone program was not as precise as the government claimed in terms of avoiding civilian deaths.
Reading aloud from a prepared statement, his voice occasionally cracking with emotion, Hale repeatedly took responsibility for his actions but expressed more regret over wartime actions than the "taking of papers."
He said he was pained by the possibility that his actions in the drone program could have emboldened terrorists in the United States, referring to the case of Omar Mateen, the gunman who massacred nightclub patrons in Orlando, Florida, in 2016 and had explicitly demanded during the shooting that air strikes needed to stop.
Researchers have developed the world's first algorithm powered by artificial intelligence to identify children with undiagnosed rare genetic disorders.
Eating more ultraprocessed foods is linked to a higher risk of cognitive decline and stroke, even if a person is trying to adhere to a Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet or the MIND diet, a new study found.
Charlie Colin, bassist and founding member of the American pop-rock band Train, best known for their early-aughts hits like 'Drops of Jupiter' and 'Meet Virginia,' has died. He was 58.
Toronto has been awarded the WNBA's first franchise outside the United States, with the expansion team set to begin play in 2026.
Diminished but not deterred, Hamas is still putting up a fight after seven brutal months of war with Israel, regrouping in some of the hardest-hit areas in northern Gaza and resuming rocket attacks into nearby Israeli communities.
Police say they have wrapped up their on-scene investigation into a deadly boat crash in eastern Ontario as details of the incident begin to emerge.
WestJet Airlines plans to launch a new cheaper fare category that would be available to travellers willing to fly without a carry-on bag.
Canada's dental care plan is 'getting there' Health Minister Mark Holland said Wednesday defending the program's rollout that's now seen two million seniors sign up, but just 10,000 oral health providers enrolled to treat them.
A new survey found a majority of Canadian respondents plan to stay within the country on their next trip amidst high costs of living.
When Jujhar Mann said he wanted to be a pastry chef on a grade school career project, he didn't imagine that pursuing his dream would land him on a popular Netflix baking competition.
A city known for its history, ties to outer space and southern barbecue, is also home to a Winnipeg chef dishing out dozens of perogies.
A Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.