White House staffer fired for trolling

The Daily Beast news website reported that Jofi Joseph, 40, who worked on nuclear non-proliferation in the National Security Council, was let go after being identified as the author of messages sent under the name “@NatSecWonk”.

Tweets sent under this account assailed both the Obama administration and Republicans, as well as conservative political commentators.

The comments targeted a close friend and adviser of the president, Valerie Jarrett, foreign policy speech writer Ben Rhodes and John Kerry.

Politico, said it had received a statement from Joseph saying, “It has been a privilege to serve in this administration and I deeply regret violating the trust placed in me.”

US Air Force officers entrusted with the launch keys to long-range nuclear missiles have been caught twice this year leaving open a blast door that is intended to help prevent a terrorist or other intruder from entering their underground command post, Air Force officials said. The blast doors are never to be left open if one of the crew members inside is asleep as was the case in both these instances.

Washington: The Obama Administ-ration has virtually said “no” to the Pakistani demand of an “end to the drone strikes”, saying such attacks against terrorist groups are not only precise, but also “lawful” and “effective”.

“The US counter-terrorism operations are precise, they are lawful, and they are effective,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

His remarks came immediately after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demanded an end to the drone attacks and two eminent rights body released reports alleging that the drone attacks have resulted in large scale civilian casualties and by doing so US has violated international law.

One of the conditions for ending the drone strikes, top administration officials indicated, would be elimination of safe havens; which is unlikely to be achieved in the near future.

“The UStates does not take lethal strikes when we or our partners have the ability to capture individual terrorists. Our preference is always to detain, interrogate, and prosecute. We take extraordinary care to make sure that our counter-terrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable domestic and international law,” he said.