American terrorism expert mocks Chinese intelligence agencies with racist tweet

“We know wheh you sreep, rouwund eye. And who you sreepy with!!!” Michael S. Smith II tweeted.

In a racist tweet linking to an article about the Chinese government’s takeover of Anbang Insurance Group on Friday, American terrorism analyst Michael S. Smith II mocked a Chinese accent, writing: “We know wheh you sleep, rouwund eye. And who you sreepy with!!!”

Smith initially refused to admit that his language was problematic, lashing out against what he characterized as “false accusations of racism” and downplaying the tweet as merely “poking fun at Chinese ‘intelligence’ agencies.”

In response to the deluge of flak he got on Twitter, Smith posted a screenshot of the Urban Dictionary entry for “Chile Please.” He also ascribed blame for “amplifying” the widespread outrage his tweet generated to the “pals” of a Georgia State University professor who Smith claims attempted to “defame” him. Among them he specifically called out Graeme Wood, a national correspondent at The Atlantic identified by Smith to Shanghaiist as having a “close relationship with a high-profile academic who recruited me into a PhD program last year … and then began running a smear campaign against me.”

It took less than three hours for New America, the Washington-based think tank where Smith was an international security fellow, to condemn his racist language and terminate his contract.

Named to Foreign Policy’s list of 100 leading global thinkers in 2016, Smith rose to prominence as chief operating officer of the counterterrorism consultancy Kronos Advisory. He was known primarily for directing ISIS-related tips from independent hacking collectives to American government authorities.

Shortly before New America announced his firing, Smith tweeted the first of a series of ham-handed apologies:

Each of these attempts at apology failed to acknowledge that the now-deleted tweet was actually racist, not just “widely characterized” or “interpreted” as such. Smith later justified the inadequacy of his apology by saying this was his first time addressing accusations of racism:

In response to an inquiry from Shanghaiist asking Smith if he would himself characterize the tweet as racist, he said:

I apologize for my offensive tweet. In the context used, ‘racist’ implies intent to disparage/hurt people due to their race. This was not my intention. My tweet was intended to mock Chinese intelligence activities against the United States. I believed — and do still believe — Graeme Wood was deliberately mischaracterizing my intent when tweeting those comments as a reflection of malice of forethought against members of ethnic groups with origins in China … I apologize for offending many other people. Most notably members of ethnic groups with origins in China. I did not adequately consider how my tweet would be interpreted by people whom I do not harbor racially-oriented animus towards, and whose feelings I do very much regret having hurt.