{"id":334623,"date":"2026-03-17T21:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/334623\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T21:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:53:13","slug":"top-us-counterterrorism-official-quits-over-trumps-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/334623\/","title":{"rendered":"Top US counterterrorism official quits over Trump’s Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, announced his resignation overnight, citing his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran<\/a> and saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration\u2019s war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran 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 statement posted on social media, making claims US President Donald Trump has denied.<\/p>\n

Kent, a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists, was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote. As head of the National Counterterrorism Centre, he was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats.<\/p>\n

His resignation reflects unease within Trump’s base about the war<\/a> and shows that questions about the justification for the use of force in Iran extend to at least one senior member of Trump’s Republican administration.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe Kent, Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, speaks during a congressional debate at KATU studios October 7, 2024, in Portland. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

The leadership change at one of the nation’s top counterterrorism offices comes at a time of heightened concern about terrorism in the homeland following recent attacks at a Michigan synagogue and a Virginia university.<\/p>\n

Justification for Iran strikes at heart of resignation<\/p>\n

Kent’s decision came down to the reasoning behind the strikes on Iran, or what he said was the lack thereof, he wrote in his resignation letter.<\/p>\n

Trump has offered shifting reasons for the strikes and has pushed back on claims that Israel forced the US to act. House Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested the White House believed Israel was determined to act on its own, leaving the Republican president with a “very difficult decision”.<\/p>\n

In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he always thought Kent was “weak on security\u201d and if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, \u201cwe don\u2019t want those people”.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not smart people, or they\u2019re not savvy people,\u201d Trump said. “Iran was a tremendous threat.”<\/p>\n

\"resident<\/p>\n

resident Donald Trump speaks at the Shield of the Americas Summit, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not immediately respond to questions about Kent\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

Democrats strongly opposed Kent\u2019s confirmation, pointing to his past ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories. But following his resignation, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Kent’s concerns about the war in Iran were justified.<\/p>\n

“I strongly disagree with many of the positions he has espoused over the years, particularly those that risk politicizing our intelligence community,” Warner said. \u201cBut on this point, he is right: There was no credible evidence of an imminent threat from Iran that would justify rushing the United States into another war of choice in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson, though, pushed back on Kent’s claims when asked about the resignation at a press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got all the briefings. We all understood that there was clearly an imminent threat that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability and they were building missiles at a pace no one in the region could keep up with,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Johnson said he is convinced that if Trump had waited \u201cwe would have mass casualties of Americans, service members and others, and our installation would have been dramatically damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Departure follows three recent acts of violence<\/p>\n

In New York City, two men who federal authorities say were inspired by the Islamic State group took powerful homemade bombs to a far-right protest outside the mayoral mansion.<\/p>\n

In Michigan, a naturalised citizen from Lebanon rammed his vehicle into a synagogue, where he was shot at by security before he fatally shot himself.<\/p>\n

And in Virginia, a man previously imprisoned on a terrorism conviction was heard yelling \u201cAllahu akbar,” an Arabic phrase meaning “God is the greatest,” before opening fire in a university classroom in an attack that officials said ended when he was killed by students.<\/p>\n

Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel are scheduled to testify before lawmakers this week about threats facing the US, an annual hearing that this year is likely to be taken up by questions about the Iran war and in particular the revelation that outdated intelligence likely led to the US firing a missile that hit an elementary school in Iran and killed more than 165 people.<\/p>\n

A veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard has in the past criticised talk of military strikes in Iran. Six years ago she said that “an all out war with Iran would make the wars that we’ve seen in Iraq and Afghanistan look like a picnic. It will be far more costly in lives, American lives, and American taxpayer dollars \u2014 and all towards accomplishing what goal? What objective?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabbard’s office did not respond when asked if she supported the strikes, and she has not posted about Iran on her social media accounts since the strikes began on February 28.<\/p>\n

A popular figure among Trump supporters<\/p>\n

Kent’s background in the military and his personal story of loss and sacrifice made him a leading figure among Trump supporters.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Michael Glasheen. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Before entering Trump’s administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state. He served in the military, seeing combat in 11 deployments as a Green Beret before retiring to join the CIA. He also endured tragedy: His wife, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in 2019 while fighting the Islamic State group in Syria, leaving him to raise their two young sons. Kent, 45, has since remarried.<\/p>\n

During the United States\u2019 chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Kent criticised what he said was a misguided desire for nation building by some in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

“It speaks to our hubris,” Kent told reporters while campaigning for Congress. “For us not to have learned from all this just shows that there are people making money and making their careers at the other end of it. They\u2019ve been doing it on the backs and dead bodies of US soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his 2022 congressional campaign, Kent paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right military group the Proud Boys, for consulting work. He also worked closely with Joey Gibson, the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, and attracted support from a variety of far-right figures.<\/p>\n

Early during his first campaign, Kent acknowledged that a political consultant set up a call that was joined by Nick Fuentes, a popular right-wing influencer who has said that Jews are holding the US “hostage” and once proclaimed that \u201cHitler was awesome, Hitler was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Kent refused to distance himself from a conspiracy theory that federal agents instigated the January 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, as well as false claims that Trump won the 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Kent later disavowed those ties and stated that he rejected all “racism and bigotry”.<\/p>\n

Still, Republicans praised Kent\u2019s counterterrorism qualifications, pointing to his military and intelligence experience.<\/p>\n

Senator Tom Cotton, the GOP chair of the Intelligence Committee, said in a floor speech that Kent had “dedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe”.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Chris Hipkins on the legal advice he\u2019s taking after his ex wife\u2019s Facebook posts, and the first major act to play at Christchurch\u2019s new stadium. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, announced his resignation overnight, citing his concerns about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,5107,43,64,31451,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":["post-334623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-terrorism","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}