Joe Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), resigned from his post Tuesday, citing President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran as the reason.
“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 war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent said in a post on X.
Kent, a 45-year-old special forces vet with 20 years of military service and troubling ties to right-wing extremists, said it had been “an honor” serving under US President Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for,” Kent pleaded in his resignation letter to Trump.
“You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further towards decline and chaos. You hold the cards.”
Kent is a close ally of Gabbard, an avowed opponent of “regime change” wars, previously serving as her acting chief of staff.
In announcing his resignation, Kent claimed “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign … to encourage a war with Iran.”
His reference to Israel and Jewish-American political machinations recall his ties to right-wing extremism and the antisemitic trope of influential Jews controlling the media industry that is so popular among its adherents.
Kent ran for the US House of Representatives twice, losing both times. During his 2022 campaign, he hired Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right militant group the Proud Boys, as a consultant.
Joey Gibson, the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, is another far-right figure with whom Kent is associated.
When Kent appeared before the US Senate for his confirmation hearing as NCTC director, he acknowledged that a consultant had set up a call with far-right influencer Nick Fuentes during one of his election campaigns.
Fuentes, an avowed white nationalist and a Holocaust denier, has also been the personal guest of Trump, who privately dined with Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022.
Prior to his congressional bids, Kent espoused the right-wing conspiracy theory that federal agents had instigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol as well as the lie that Trump — not President Joe Biden — won the 2020 election.
Both of those claims have been repeatedly and thoroughly debunked, yet they still hold truck among Trump supporters and across the far right.
Though Kent has disavowed some of his right-wing ties and claims to reject all “racism and bigotry,” he has continued to repeat the 2020 election and FBI January 6 lies.
Before resigning, Kent was seen as one of the highest-ranking Trump loyalists in the government.
Kent railed against intervention abroad and helped oversee fight against drug cartels
After retiring from the military in 2018, Kent became a paramilitary officer with the CIA.
A regular on conservative cable networks and podcasts before and during his 2022 and 2024 congressional bids, Kent had previously served as a counterterrorism adviser to Trump’s 2020 presidential reelection campaign.
He spoke out against the so-called war on terror and US global intervention in 2019, when his first wife, Navy cryptologist Shannon Smith, was killed by an Islamic State suicide bomber in Syria.
“That is why I have a skepticism of our federal government,” Kent said of Smith’s killing, saying she had died because “Republicans and Democrats consistently lied to the American people to keep us engaged in wars abroad.”
Disgusted by what he called the “hubris” of US interventionism fueled by people profiting from the deaths of US service members, Kent would later turn his focus to drug cartels.
Under Gabbard, Kent was instrumental in reshaping intelligence analyses in order to justify the deportation of South American gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act by drawing connections between drug smugglers and then-Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Trump highlighted this area when he nominated Kent for the position of NCTC director in February 2025, saying, “Joe will help us keep America safe by eradicating all terrorism, from the jihadists around the world, to the cartels in our backyard.”
The National Counterterrorism Center was created after 9/11 to analyze and detect terrorist threats; among other things, the agency maintains the US government’s terrorist watch lists.
So much for loyalty, Trump turns on ‘weak’ Kent
Trump responded to the news of Joe Kent’s resignation while speaking to reporters at a White House Saint Patrick’s Day reception.
After acknowledging that he had read Kent’s letter of resignation, the US president claimed he “didn’t know him well.”
“I always thought he was a nice guy,” said Trump, “but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security.”
Via DW
