WASHINGTON — Joe Kent, the United States’ top intelligence director for counterterrorism, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing objections to the Trump administration’s involvement in the ongoing war with Iran. Kent’s departure as the head of the US National Counterterrorism Center, which falls under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, marks the first resignation by a Senate-confirmed US official in protest during Trump’s second term.

Who Is Joe Kent?

Kent is a former US Army Special Forces veteran and former CIA paramilitary officer who rose to prominence within right-wing, pro-Trump media circles after two failed runs for Congress in 2022 and 2024 as a Republican from Washington state during the Biden administration. His nomination to lead the nation’s top intelligence office by Trump last year raised concerns among some Democratic lawmakers about the risks of politicizing intelligence and delivering it directly to the president.

Kent has at times conspiracy theories about the FBI’s involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. As a former Green Beret and Army Ranger with 11 combat tours, he became a leading voice within MAGA circles in 2021 against what Trump and others have decried as the ‘endless wars’ in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Personal Tragedy and Political Stance

Kent’s personal life has also shaped his political views. His first wife, Shannon — a language specialist with the US Navy — was killed in a suicide bombing while visiting a local restaurant with her teammates in the Kurdish-controlled town of Manbij, Syria, in 2019, during the US-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State group. This tragedy has been cited by Kent as a key moment that influenced his stance on military engagement.

In his public resignation letter, posted on the social media site X on Tuesday, Kent stated, ‘I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.’ He claimed that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States and accused the administration of starting the conflict due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.

Kent addressed Trump directly in his letter, stating, ‘You understood better than any modern president how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasem Soleimani and by defeating ISIS.’ His comments suggest a deep ideological rift within the MAGA movement over the justification for military action.

Significance of the Resignation

Kent’s departure marks the most visible schism in Trump’s coalition between the anti-war MAGA officials and the rest of the base. His boss, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, another once-vocal opponent of US involvement in wars in the Middle East, was reportedly excluded from high-level meetings on intelligence regarding Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.

Gabbard’s office concluded in March 2025 that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, a finding Trump later publicly dismissed. This divergence in intelligence assessments highlights a growing tension between the Trump administration and its own intelligence apparatus.

In his resignation letter, Kent alleged that ‘high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that … sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.’ He further claimed that his wife was killed ‘in a war manufactured by Israel’ in an apparent reference to Syria’s civil war.

Reactions to Kent’s Claims

Ilan Goldberg, senior vice president at the liberal, pro-Israel advocacy group J Street, condemned the antisemitic tropes in Kent’s resignation. ‘Almost always happy to have senior officials resigning over a war I disagree with,’ Goldberg wrote in a post on X. ‘But the anti-Semitic stuff in here blaming Israel for the Iraq war and a secret conspiracy of the media and Israelis to deceive Trump into going to war with Iran is ugly stuff,’ he added.

When asked about Kent’s resignation during a press gaggle inside the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump replied, ‘I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security.’ He added, ‘When I read his statement, I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out, because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized that.’

Kent’s resignation has sparked discussions about the internal divisions within the Trump administration and the broader MAGA movement. As the administration continues to handle the complexities of the Iran conflict, the departure of a high-ranking official like Kent may signal a broader shift in the political landscape.

What’s next for the administration remains uncertain. With the ongoing war in Iran and the administration’s stance on national security, the implications of Kent’s resignation could have far-reaching effects on both domestic and international policy.