Senior White House official Jofi Jospeh has been fired for leaking internal information using the anonymous Twitter account, @NatSecWonk.
Turns out that a tweeter spouting sarcasm and snark at the Obama administration was actually a member of the ranks.
A National Security Council director, Jofi Joseph, has been fired from his plum White House gig after the administration found out he has been running @NatSecWonk, a Twitter profile that mocked D.C. insiders and even leaked vital security information.
He is reportedly under investigation by the Department of Justice for leaking sensitive information in his social media stunt, according to Foreign Policy's blog Situation Report.
Since February 2011, Joseph has used the social media moniker to poke fun of administration colleagues, mock the media, and at times launch embittered personal attacks against political friends and foes — priding himself in his Twitter bio on saying what "everyone else only thinks…I'm abrasive and bring the snark."
Now that Joseph's identity has been revealed, it's fair to say Joseph has pretty much burned bridges with everyone in Washington.
He called the President's most trusted adviser Valerie Jarrett a "vacuous cipher" and chided Obama loyalists he deemed hangers on.
"Growing problem for the Administration — too many 1st term holdovers not getting the hint that it's time to move on and get the f-ck out,” he noted.
He joked that Hillary Clinton's longtime aide Huma Abedin, a devout Muslim who doesn't drink, must have been "wearing beer goggles the night she met Anthony Wiener."
He slammed conservative pundit Sarah Palin and her "white trash family," calling them "useless garbage."
And in a shocking tirade against former Bush press spokesman Ari Fleischer, spewed nastiness against the Republican, mocking him for marrying "a woman a decade younger than him — and she's as ugly as he is! #jackass."
Fleischer married Rebecca Elizabeth Davis, an Office of Management and Budget staffer, in 2002. He was 42 at the time of the marriage, she was 26.
Joseph is also believed to be behind the Twitter profile @DCHobbyist.
Yes, it's fair to say that Joseph, 40, and his wife Carolyn Leddy, a staff member for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and former fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, might now find it incredibly difficult to mingle in D.C. circles.
In addition to committing social suicide in the Beltway, Joseph, who was director of nuclear nonproliferation on the White House National Security Council staff, also leaked sensitive information relating to his work negotiating with Iran on their nuclear program.
Though journalists appreciated the insider-y information, the account was reviled for going to painstaking efforts to correct typos in stories, correcting mocking story angles (based on confidential information he gleaned thanks to his security clearance) and dishing out his personal disdain for media starlets.
"Me thinks @peggynoonannyc and @chrismatthews should get together and swap stories, share some drinks and discuss why they are irrelevant," he tweeted on one occasion, in regards to the conservative WSJ columnist and MSNBC host.
In yet another disgusting jab, he took aim at conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin, writing, "I feel sorry for the husband of @jrubinblogger He has to have sex with her every five years."
Though a keen grammar expert and stickler for details, Joseph had no qualms disregarding the social media policy of his employer — which has landed him without a job.
The White House revealed it had terminated Joseph last week and the former official came clean about his Twitter alter ego. The Twitter account has been shut down.
Calling it a "privilege" to serve the President, Joseph says he now regrets "violating the trust and confidence placed in me," according to a mea culpa statement released to Politico.
"What started out as an intended parody account of D.C. culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments. I bear complete responsibility for this affair and I sincerely apologize to everyone I insulted."
White House bosses put two and two together and identified the owner of the Twitter handle after an extensive probe, according to Politico.
Given Obama has a little outfit called the National Security Agency at his disposal, it was really only a matter of time.
Officials also say they believe Joseph could be behind another Twitter handle, @dchobbyist, which includes illicit postings about State Department staffers.
source: nydailynews.com
