Who is Joe Kent? Trump’s counterterrorism chief resigns amid US-Iraq war

A top U.S. counterterrorism official has resigned in protest at the Trump administration’s handling of the war with Iran, becoming the highest-ranking official to resign amid rising tensions in the Middle East.Joseph “Joe” Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), announced his resignation from his post on Tuesday, saying he could no longer support a conflict that he believed was neither justified nor necessary. Kent was appointed to this position by U.S. President Donald Trump in July 2025. In his resignation letter posted on his social media account, he said Iran “posed no imminent threat to our country.”

He added that the United States entered the war under pressure from “Israel and its powerful American lobby.”The National Counterterrorism Center is the U.S. government’s central hub for analyzing and integrating intelligence related to terrorist threats. As its director, Kent coordinates data and assessments designed to inform national security decision-making. His departure therefore raises questions about internal divisions and the importance given to intelligence assessments in decisions to engage militarily with Iran.Kent is a former U.S. Army Warrant Officer and Green Beret who served for 20 years, including 11 combat deployments. After retiring from the Army, he served as a paramilitary officer in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He later entered politics and ran unsuccessfully for Washington State Congress in 2022 and 2024 again.The war between the United States and Iran broke out on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched large-scale air strikes on Iran, hitting military sites and killing senior Iranian leaders, and Iran responded to the United States with missiles and drones and allied forces in the region.Republicans and the MAGA base claim that Iran’s actions threaten U.S. assets and allies in the Middle East, while most Democrats believe there is no clear evidence that Iran’s actions pose an immediate attack on U.S. interests.Kent said in the statement that he could not “in good conscience support Iran’s ongoing war” and reiterated his view that the conflict lacked a solid basis for a verified threat assessment.