The senior counterterrorism official in the Trump administration, Joe Kent has resigned following the worsening conflict between US and Iran, calling on the president to “reverse course.”
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, stated in a letter shared via his X account that the administration “started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby” and that Iran posed “no imminent threat” to the United States.
According to reports, Kent, 45, is a US special forces and CIA veteran whose wife, navy cryptologic technician Shannon Kent, was killed in a bombing in Syria in 2019.
The White House has dismissed the letter saying Trump had “compelling evidence” that Iran was going to attack the US first.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said that he thought Kent was a “nice guy” but “weak on security”.
According to Trump, he disagreed with Joe Kent’s assessment of the Iranian danger and realised “it was a good thing that he’s out” after reading his resignation letter.
Kent’s exit makes him the most prominent member of the Trump administration to openly denounce the US-Israeli operation in Iran.
In the letter addressed to Trump, Joe Kent alleged that “high-ranking Israeli officials” and influential US journalists had sowed “misinformation” that led the president to undermine his “America First” platform.
“This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States,” the letter continued. “This was a lie.”
Kent, a long-time loyalist to Trump’s who unsuccessfully ran for Congress twice, was nominated by the president early in his administration and narrowly confirmed to his post, with many Democrats criticising his links to extremist groups including members of the Proud Boys.
Kent also declined to retract allegations that Trump had won the 2020 election or that federal agents had incited the January 6 rioting at the US Capitol during the confirmation process.
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He managed the analysis and identification of possible terrorist threats from all over the world at the National Counterterrorism Center, where he reported to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Joe Kent cited his military service and her death in his letter, saying that he “cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Kent’s suggestion that “Trump made the decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable”.
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