WH staffer unmasked, fired for anonymous, insulting tweets

(CBS News) A White House official is the person behind hundreds of anonymous tweets attacking the Obama administration. Jofi Joseph was fired last week, and now, he's apologizing.

For two years, Joseph, a national security staffer, lived a kind of double life working on Iran policy and other issues, and at the same time sending snarky, insulting tweets under the handle @natsecwonk.

Insiders followed the tweets because the author seemed to know what he was talking about -- and, of course, because of the shock value - as in this one about a close confidant of the president and first lady: "I'm a fan of Obama, but his continuing reliance and dependence upon a vacuous cipher like Valerie Jarrett concerns me."

He was a bipartisan insulter, tweeting this about the chairman of the House Oversight Committee: "Look, (Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.) is an ass, but he's on to something here with the @hillaryclinton whitewash of accountability for Benghazi."

Joseph was discovered last week and he was fired so quietly that most of the staff never knew, CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reported. He's been incommunicado since, but he did send an email to Politico which said, "It has been a privilege to serve in this administration and I deeply regret violating the trust and confidence placed in me."

Watch Plante's full report above.