U.S. counterterrorism director Joe Kent resigns over Iran war
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, testified at the House Homeland Security Committee hearing titled “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland” at the Cannon building on Wednesday, December 11, 2025.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent announced Tuesday that he would resign in response to the Trump administration’s war on Iran.
“In conscience, I cannot support continued war,” Kent said in his letter to President Donald Trump. Published in Kent’s personal X account.
Kent, supporter of the far right conspiracy theories The man the Senate narrowly confirmed for the director role last July accused the president of being duped by Israel into supporting the war.
“Iran did not pose an 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 his letter. he wrote.
Trump disputed Kent’s claims later Tuesday.
“I always thought he was a good guy, but I always thought he was weak on security,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin. he said.
After reading Kent’s statement, Trump said, “I realize it’s a good thing he’s out there,” because “every country has realized what a threat Iran is.”
The comments came shortly after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an X post that Kent was repeating “the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have repeated over and over.”
Leavitt said Trump “has strong and convincing evidence that Iran will attack the United States first” and “would never make the decision to deploy a military asset against a foreign enemy in a vacuum.”
He also called Kent’s claims about Israel’s influence on Trump “both insulting and ridiculous.”
The National Counterterrorism Center did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
The NCTC’s director leads U.S. counterterrorism and counternarcotics efforts and advises directly to the president. An hour after Kent announced his resignation, he was still on the center’s list. manager on the official government website.
The NCTC is housed in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, led by Tulsi Gabbard, who once opposed war with Iran and has remained silent on the Trump administration’s recent military actions. Gabbard is scheduled to testify He was before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, but the hearing was postponed until Thursday.
ODNI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kent, 45, is a U.S. Army veteran and former CIA paramilitary officer who deployed 11 times to the Middle East over 20 years, according to his official biography. Her first husband was a US Navy officer Shannon KentHe was killed by a suicide bomber while deployed to Syria in 2019.
Joe Kent ran for Congress in Washington as a Republican in 2022 and 2024, losing both races to Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. He later served as Gabbard’s acting chief of staff.
Trump nominated Kent to head the NCTC in February 2025, saying he would “help us keep America safe by eliminating terrorism, from jihadists around the world to cartels in our backyard.”
Kent says Trump’s 2020 presidential electionfraudulent“and I suggested that FBI involved Planning and directing the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
At his Senate nomination hearing in April 2025, Kent said the US intelligence community Investigating the FBI’s role in rebellion.
Kent’s resignation announcement Tuesday morning sparked divisive reactions. opponents of the warincluding both Democrats and some who identify with Trump’s MAGA movement. praised Kent.
“Joe Kent’s record is deeply troubling and, in my view, he should never have been confirmed to lead the National Counterterrorism Center,” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement. he said. “But he is right on this point: There was no credible evidence that an imminent threat from Iran would justify dragging the United States into another war of choice in the Middle East.”
But Trump’s allies pushed back on Kent’s claim that Iran does not pose an imminent threat to the United States
“I received all the briefings. We clearly understood that there was an imminent threat that Iran was very close to enriching its nuclear capability,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Capitol Hill.
“I don’t know where Joe Kent got his information, but it’s clear he wasn’t at those briefings,” Johnson said.
Others attacked Kent personally.
“Joe Kent is a crazy egomaniac who is often at the center of national security leaks and rarely (never?) produces any real work,” said Taylor Budowich, Trump’s former deputy White House chief of staff and political consultant. said in an X post.
“This is not a principled resignation; he just wanted to make a noise before he was fired. How pathetic,” Budowich said.
— CNBC’s Emily Wilkins contributed to this report.
