Joe Kent resigned from his post as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center on Tuesday, citing his refusal to support the ongoing war in Iran.
In a resignation letter sent to President Trump, Kent wrote that he could not endorse a war he said was unnecessary because Iran did not present an imminent threat to the United States. He attributed the start of the conflict to pressure from Israel and what he described as its American lobby.
Kent referenced his military service in the letter, noting that he deployed to combat 11 times during his career. He also referred to his personal loss as a Gold Star husband, saying his wife Shannon died in what he characterized as a war manufactured by Israel.
Addressing the President directly, Kent said he supported the foreign policy priorities that Mr. Trump campaigned on in 2016, 2020 and 2024 and that were enacted during the President’s first term. He wrote that, until June 2025, the President understood that wars in the Middle East drained American lives and national wealth.
Kent accused high-ranking Israeli officials and members of the American media of carrying out a misinformation campaign that undermined the President’s America First platform. According to the resignation letter, that campaign led the President to believe Iran posed an imminent danger and fostered the expectation of a quick victory.
The former director drew a parallel to the Iraq war in his letter, asserting that similar tactics were used by Israel to pull the United States into that conflict, which Kent said resulted in thousands of American casualties.
In closing, Kent urged President Trump to change course on the administration’s Iran policy. The resignation became effective Tuesday.
Context and implications
The letter frames Kent’s departure as a protest against the administration’s current approach to Iran, emphasizing his view that the conflict lacks an imminent threat to U.S. security and that outside influence and media narratives contributed to the decision to go to war. Kent’s personal history of combat deployments and his status as a Gold Star husband were central to his rationale.
Kent’s resignation underlines a public schism between his assessment of the Iran situation and the administration’s policy choices, and it includes an explicit appeal for policy reversal.