The director of the National Counterterrorism Center has resigned, saying he could not support the United States’ involvement in the war in Iran, according to a statement he posted on social media.
Joe Kent, a retired Green Beret and long-time supporter of Donald Trump, said on Tuesday that he had stepped down because the conflict lacked justification.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,” Kent wrote in a statement posted on X. He added that the United States had entered the war due to pressure from Israel and its supporters in Washington.
The National Counterterrorism Center coordinates U.S. government intelligence on terrorist threats and maintains a database of known and suspected terrorists.
Kent worked under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, with whom he has long-standing political ties. Gabbard has kept a low public profile since the conflict began and has previously criticized U.S. military interventions overseas.
In a separate letter addressed to Trump and also shared on X, Kent said he supported the former president’s values during his first term but believed Trump had been “wrongly swayed” by Israeli influence. He said he could not back “sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people”.
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… pic.twitter.com/prtu86DpEr
— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 17, 2026
Kent served in the U.S. Army Special Forces for 20 years, completing 11 combat deployments, and later worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. His wife, Shannon Kent, a U.S. Navy cryptologist, was killed in a terrorist bombing in Syria in 2019.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly argued that the U.S. intelligence community had sought to undermine his presidency and required a major overhaul. Kent’s appointment was seen as part of a broader effort to place trusted loyalists in senior roles across intelligence, law enforcement and diplomacy.
Kent has previously drawn controversy for describing some rioters as “political prisoners” and for past associations with individuals linked by police to the Proud Boys far-right group.
