The head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, resigned over the US-Israeli war in , saying in a letter to the president, which he published in X, that “Iran did not pose an immediate threat to our country.”
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.
I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this…
— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19)
Kent, 45, is a US Special Forces and CIA veteran whose wife, Shannon Kent, a Navy cryptography technician, was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019.
In the letter, Kent — a two-time failed Republican congressional candidate from Washington state — said that by June 2025, he believed “Trump had understood that the wars in the Middle East have deprived America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted our nation’s wealth and prosperity.”
In addition, he claimed that “high-ranking Israeli officials” and influential American journalists spread “misinformation” that led Trump to undermine his “America First” platform.
Longtime Trump supporter
Kent, a longtime Trump supporter, was narrowly endorsed for the post in July of last year, with many Democrats criticizing his ties to extremist groups, including members of the Proud Boys.
During the confirmation hearing, he also refused to distance himself from claims that federal agents had instigated the January 6 incidents at the US Capitol or that Trump had won the 2020 election.
At the National Counterterrorism Center, she reported to the Director of National Intelligence and oversaw the analysis and identification of potential terrorist threats from around the world.
He later became a paramilitary officer in the CIA, before leaving public service after the death of his wife.
He referenced his military service and her death in his letter, saying he “cannot support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that neither benefits the American people nor justifies the cost in human life.”
