Politics in Washington can be heated at the best of time, and few online personalities fanned the flames quite like @NatSecWonk. Although his 1,500 or so followers mostly consisted of Washington journalists and political staff, his harsh words made him one of the most outspoken 'insider' critics in the US capital, frustrating colleagues unaware of who was responsible.

The account was suddenly shut down last week, and The Daily Beast has revealed the true identity of the National Security Wonk (wonk being a derogatory phrase for an overly hard-working person). Jofi Joseph was the director for non-proliferation at the White House's National Security Council. He has been described as an 'adviser' and 'aide' to President Obama, with others suggesting he was tipped for higher ranking positions in Washington D.C.

However, with the revelation that he had been tweeting negative comments about White House staffers since February 2011, his political career has seemingly come to a sudden halt. He has been fired after a lengthy investigation revealed him to be the person behind the anonymous account.

Joseph told Politico "it has been a privilege to serve in this Administration and I deeply regret violating the trust and confidence placed in me. What started out as an intended parody account of DC culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments".

The @NatSecWonk Twitter account has now been shut down. Tweets had previously criticised the likes of the Clinton family and Senator Ted Cruz. While Joseph admitted he was a 'fan of Obama', when tweeting under the hashtag 'ObamaInThreeWords' he simply wrote "has s****y staff". Another comment read "so when will someone do us the favour of getting rid of Sarah Palin and the rest of her white trash family? What utter useless garbage".

Another notorious DC insider called DC Hobbyist recently protected their account and stopped accepting new followers as a result of "odd fascination with me right now".

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