{"id":529349,"date":"2026-03-17T19:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529349\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T19:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:46:10","slug":"top-counterterrorism-official-joe-kent-resigns-over-trumps-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529349\/","title":{"rendered":"Top counterterrorism official Joe Kent resigns over Trump’s Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran<\/a> and saying he \u201ccannot in good conscience\u201d 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,\u201d Kent said in a statement posted on social media, making claims President Donald Trump has denied.<\/p>\n

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

His resignation demonstrates that the unease about the war<\/a> within Trump\u2019s base extends to at least one senior member of his Republican administration.<\/p>\n

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\"Joseph<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Ali<\/p>\n

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The leadership change at one of the nation\u2019s top counterterrorism offices comes at a time of heightened concern<\/a> about terrorism following recent attacks at a Michigan synagogue<\/a> and a Virginia university<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump pauses after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, March 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump pauses after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, March 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

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

Kent\u2019s decision<\/a> came down to the reasoning behind the strikes on Iran, 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 U.S. to act. House Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested the White House believed Israel was determined to strike on its own, leaving the Republican president with a \u201cvery difficult decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said he always thought Kent was \u201cweak on security\u201d and if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, \u201cwe don\u2019t want those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not smart people, or they\u2019re not savvy people,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIran was a tremendous threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year ago, in nominating Kent, Trump praised him as a man who had \u201chunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Democrats strongly opposed Kent\u2019s confirmation because of 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\u2019s concerns about the war in Iran were justified.<\/p>\n

\u201cI strongly disagree with many of the positions he has espoused over the years, particularly those that risk politicizing our intelligence community,\u201d 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\u2019s claims at a press conference on Tuesday.<\/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<\/a> took powerful homemade bombs to a far-right protest outside the mayoral mansion.<\/p>\n

In Michigan, a naturalized citizen from Lebanon<\/a> 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<\/a> on a terrorism conviction opened fire in a university classroom. Officials said the attack 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 U.S., an annual hearing likely to be dominated this year by questions about the Iran war and the revelation that outdated intelligence likely led to the U.S. firing a missile that hit an elementary school in Iran<\/a> and killed more than 165 people. <\/p>\n

A veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard has previously criticized talk of military strikes in Iran. Six years ago she said that \u201can all out war with Iran would make the wars that we\u2019ve 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

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

Kent\u2019s military background and his personal story of sacrifice made him a compelling figure among Trump supporters.<\/p>\n

Before joining Trump\u2019s administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state. As a Green Beret, he saw combat in 11 deployments before retiring to join the CIA. He also endured tragedy: His wife, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in 2019 in Syria, leaving him with two young sons. Kent, 45, has since remarried.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt speaks to our hubris,\u201d Kent told reporters while campaigning for Congress. \u201cFor 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 U.S. 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 intended to broaden his social media reach that was joined by Nick Fuentes, a popular right-wing influencer who has said that Jews are holding the U.S. \u201chostage\u201d and once proclaimed that \u201cHitler was awesome, Hitler was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kent later disavowed those ties and stated that he rejected all \u201cracism and bigotry.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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

Sen. Tom Cotton, the GOP chair of the Intelligence Committee, said in a floor speech that Kent had \u201cdedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Brian Slodysko contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1927,4,450,21283,92137,1930,12,793,451,801,1570,228242,1569,3319,238064,238066,1573,48296,101625,13410,3,94919,111,238065,24265,42016,452,453,792,2003,2002,800,965],"class_list":["post-529349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-ap-top-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-conservatism","tag-counterterrorism","tag-diplomacy","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-iran-government","tag-iran-war","tag-israel-government","tag-joe-biden","tag-joe-kent","tag-joey-gibson","tag-john-ratcliffe","tag-kash-patel","tag-mark-warner","tag-mike-johnson","tag-news","tag-nick-fuentes","tag-politics","tag-radicalism","tag-terrorism","tag-tom-cotton","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-united-states-government","tag-wa-state-wire","tag-washington","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}