Joseph Kent

On March 17, a couple of weeks after the commencement of “Operation Epic Fury” in Iran, Joe Kent informed President Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that he could not, “in good conscience,” support the war in Iran and was resigning, effective immediately, as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

Following an undergraduate degree in strategic studies and defense analysis, Kent joined the military as a Ranger and then member of the Special Forces, serving 11 combat tours, primarily in Iraq, and then as a CIA paramilitary officer. He entered political advocacy and politics in 2019 after his cryptologist wife was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria. He unsuccessfully ran twice for a House seat in Washington state before becoming Gabbard’s chief of staff in early 2025.

In his resignation letter, Kent dared to touch the third-rail topic of Israel and AIPAC, blaming the war on their successful misinformation and pressure. The very next day, the media announced that Kent was being investigated by the FBI for allegedly sharing classified information, giving the president an opportunity to name-call him as a “leaker.”

Supposedly, the investigation predated Kent’s resignation, but Kent says,

“I was not aware of any investigation that I was under. They have to leak the allegations of the FBI investigation—if there truly was an FBI investigation. Who knows, maybe there will be. Then there would be a process and procedure for that.”

Kent also suggests that the putative investigation “is just an effort for them to steal a narrative, and to have us discussing things like the leaks, the investigation, etc., as opposed to the main issue, which is why we went to war with Iran.”

Kent will be a speaker at the Ron Paul Institute’s (RPI’s) spring conference. RPI’s Daniel McAdams says, “What a perfect speaker for our conference on why the US war on Iran is a really bad idea: someone who resigned from government because he thought the war on Iran was a really bad idea!”

In an interview with Tucker Carlson right after his resignation, Kent described the “ecosystem of information” generated by neoconservatives “sympathetic to the Israeli cause,” along with pro-Israel lobbyists and Israeli government officials—all designed to justify the war with Iran. If you review the resumes of those pushing for war, it is surprising how few are Americans with serious military and intelligence experience. In resigning, Kent apparently realized that his credentials, extensive Middle East experience, and ability to parse facts on the ground would carry little weight against such propaganda. We hope that he will find another position that allows the American people to benefit from his knowledge and analysis.