White House official fired over snarky, anonymous Twitter account (TWEETS)
Twitter accidentally reset the passwords of a large number of its 140 million active users. Many users thought their accounts had been hacked.
A White House official was fired recently over his social media identity as @NatSecWonk, a popular and very snarky Twitter account.
The Daily Beast reported that the voice behind the account was Jofi Joseph, a director in the non-proliferation section of the National Security Staff at the White House.
Joseph was up for a promotion for a top Pentagon position before he was outed this week, said Foreign Policy.
He is now under investigation by the Justice Department for his social media activities as @NatSecWonk, which lasted over two years.
It is also believed that he may have run the @DCHobbyist account as well, which tweets about escort services around the continent.
The Twitter handle @NatSecWonk was a guilty pleasure among DC policy insiders who found the stream suddenly down last week with no explanation.
Joseph did not spare anyone, including unwitting colleagues and his bosses, whose intellect and appearance he criticized ruthlessly.
Though he may never work in politics again, it is certain that he will easily find work at some popular online media outlets.
The account is now shut down but some of the more acerbic, ironic or testy Tweets include:
"Hey Obama campaign people, you may want to rethink sending emails from the First Lady with the subject Up Late. That sounds … dirty."
"Who are the two blondes flanking [Chelsea Clinton]? And is it just me, or has she put on some weight?"
"[Liz Cheney is ] what happens when rank nepotism meets sheer stupidity. Also, she takes after her father — she's like 30 pounds overweight."
"Admit it, when you heard Helen Thomas went out on a date with JFK back in the day, you asked yourself, "Wait, she was attractive once?"
"Hey @SarahPalinUSA Divorce or not, I'm sure Todd is getting some on the side. I don't blame him, cause you're bat shit crazy…"
“So when will someone do us the favor of getting rid of Sarah Palin and the rest of her white trash family? What utter useless garbage …. ”
"That Obama only called Kerry/Hagel AFTER he made decision with his WH aides on going to Hill underscores how all foreign policy is WH-based."
"I'm an ass at times on Twitter, I freely admit, but I have nothing on @jeffreygoldberg"