Top counterterrorism official Kent resigns over Trump's Iran war, says
Iran posed no imminent threat
[March 18, 2026]
By SEUNG MIN KIM and DAVID KLEPPER
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 and
saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s
war.
“Iran 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,” Kent said in a statement posted on social media, making claims
President Donald Trump has denied.
Kent, a former Green Beret and political candidate with connections to
right-wing extremists, was confirmed 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.
His resignation demonstrates that the unease about the war within
Trump's base extends to at least one senior member of his Republican
administration.
The leadership change comes at a time of heightened concern about
terrorism following several recent violent attacks in the U.S.
Justification for Iran strikes at heart of resignation
Kent's decision came down to the reasoning behind the strikes on Iran,
he wrote in his resignation letter.
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 “very difficult
decision.”
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said he
always thought Kent was "weak on security” and if someone in his
administration did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those
people.”
“They’re not smart people, or they’re not savvy people,” Trump said.
“Iran was a tremendous threat.”
A year ago, in nominating Kent, Trump praised him as a man who had
“hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, whose office oversaw
Kent's work, wrote in a social media post Tuesday that it was up to
Trump to decide whether Iran posed a threat.
“After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President
Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an
imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion,” Gabbard
wrote in the post. She did not mention her own views of the strikes.
Democrats strongly opposed Kent’s 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's concerns about the war in
Iran were justified.
“I strongly disagree with many of the positions he has espoused over the
years, particularly those that risk politicizing our intelligence
community," Warner said. “But 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.”
Johnson, though, pushed back on Kent's claims at a press conference on
Tuesday.
“I 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,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he is convinced that if Trump had waited “we would have
mass casualties of Americans, service members and others, and our
installation would have been dramatically damaged.”
Departure follows three recent acts of violence
In New York City, two men who federal authorities say were inspired by
the Islamic State group took powerful homemade bombs to a far-right
protest outside the mayoral mansion.
In Michigan, a naturalized citizen from Lebanon rammed his vehicle into
a synagogue, where he was shot at by security before he fatally shot
himself.
And in Virginia, a man previously imprisoned on a terrorism conviction
opened fire in a university classroom. Officials said the attack ended
when he was killed by students.
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From left, Joseph Kent, director of the National
Counterterrorism Center, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem,
and Michael Glasheen, operations director of the National Security
Branch of the FBI, raise their arms before the House Committee on
Homeland Security on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP
Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
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
and killed more than 165 people.
A veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard has previously
criticized talk of military strikes in Iran. Six years ago she said that
"an all out war with Iran would make the wars that we’ve seen in Iraq
and Afghanistan look like a picnic. It will be far more costly in lives,
American lives, and American taxpayer dollars — and all towards
accomplishing what goal? What objective?”
A spokesperson for Gabbard declined to answer questions about Gabbard's
views on the current strikes.
A popular figure among Trump supporters
Kent's military background and his personal story of sacrifice made him
a compelling figure among Trump supporters.
Before joining Trump's 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.
During the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021,
Kent criticized what he said was a misguided desire for nation building
by some in Washington, D.C.
“It speaks to our hubris,” Kent told reporters while campaigning for
Congress. “For 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’ve been doing it on the backs and dead bodies of U.S.
soldiers.”
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.
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. “hostage” and once proclaimed that
“Hitler was awesome, Hitler was right.”
Kent later disavowed those ties and stated that he rejected all “racism
and bigotry.”
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Kent refused to distance himself
from a conspiracy theory that federal agents instigated the Jan. 6,
2021, attack at the Capitol, as well as false claims that Trump won the
2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden.
Republicans praised Kent’s counterterrorism qualifications, pointing to
his military and intelligence experience.
Sen. Tom Cotton, the GOP chair of the Intelligence Committee, said in a
floor speech that Kent had “dedicated his career to fighting terrorism
and keeping Americans safe.”
___
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Brian Slodysko contributed to
this report.
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