Naval War College Professor On Leave After Allegedly Texting Penis Pic

A professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport and widely-followed critic of Edward Snowden has been placed on leave after a screenshot of a text message exchange in which he allegedly sent a picture of his penis circulated on social media on Monday.

John Schindler, an outspoken commentator on national security issues on his XX Committee blog as well as a professor of national security affairs at the college, purportedly sent the message in May and it is unclear who released it before it spread like wildfire across Twitter.

It, along with a letter he purportedly wrote to a woman he called a "vixen," spread across social media rapidly, prompting a complaint sent by a blogger to the colleges' administration. That soon led to the college president ordering an investigation, the Associated Press reported.

Schindler was very active on Twitter, calling himself a "very public voice on this contested issue," but he deleted his account on Monday and in a now-deleted statement on his Web site, he suggested he was the target of a smear campaign.

"I'd like to think I've fought the good fight. This, however, has gotten me an extraordinary amount of grief in the form of nearly non-stop online harassment and stalking from a whole cast of characters. It's been pretty nasty at times," he said. "Things have now taken an ugly, indeed sordid turn. The smear campaign is now directed not just against me, but against my family."

Schindler said he'd "be back" but he needed to take a "strategic pause now."

In his most recent blog post, Schindler said he'll be taking a break from social media and thanked his supporters.

"I’m well and doing fine. I’ll be back, taking a strategic pause here, thanks for being such great followers and readers — more soon!" he said.

Also circulating is an email he allegedly wrote to a woman he said he looked forward to meeting.

In addition to being a professor, Schindler is a Senior Fellow of the International History Institute at Boston University and worked for nearly a decade at the National Security Agency as an analyst and counterintelligence officer. He is also an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.