As head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats.
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 war.
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Kent, a former political candidate, was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote. As head of the National Counterterrorism Center, he was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats.
His resignation reflects unease within US President Donald Trump’s base about the war and shows that questions about the justification for the use of force in Iran extend to at least one senior member of Trump's Republican administration.
The change in personnel at one of the nation's top counterterrorism offices comes amid heightened concerns about terrorism in the homeland following attacks within the past week at a Michigan synagogue and a Virginia university.
Justification for Iran strikes at heart of resignation
Kent's decision to resign came down to the reasoning behind the strikes on Iran, or what he said was the lack thereof, he wrote in his resignation letter.
Trump has offered shifting reasons for the strikes and has pushed back on claims that Israel forced the US to act.
In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said that he always thought Kent was "weak on security” and that 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 spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not immediately respond to questions about Kent’s resignation.
Democrats strongly opposed Kent’s confirmation, pointing to his past ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories. But following Kent's resignation, Senator 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 pushed back on Kent's claims that Iran posed no imminent threat when asked about the resignation 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 comes amid heightened terror concern
Kent is leaving the Trump administration as three recent acts of violence have raised concerns about threats to the homeland.
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 naturalised citizen from Lebanon rammed his vehicle into a synagogue, where he was shot at by security before he shot himself to death.
And in Virginia, a man previously imprisoned on a terrorism conviction was heard yelling “Allahu akbar,” an Arabic phrase meaning "God is the greatest,” before opening fire in a university classroom in an attack that officials said ended when he was killed by students.
Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel are scheduled to testify before lawmakers later this week about threats facing the US, an annual hearing that this year is likely to be taken up by questions about the Iran war.
A veteran and former Congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard has in the past criticised 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."
Gabbard's office did not respond when asked if Gabbard supported the strikes, and she has not posted about Iran on her social media accounts since the strikes began last month.
A popular figure among Trump supporters
Kent's military background and personal story of loss and sacrifice made him a leading figure on national security among Trump supporters.
Before entering Trump's administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state.
He also served in the military, seeing combat in 11 deployments as a Green Beret before retiring from Special Forces to join the CIA.
He also endured tragedy: his wife, Shannon, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in 2019 while fighting the so-called Islamic State group in Syria, leaving him to raise their two young sons alone. Kent, 45, has since remarried.
During the US’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Kent criticised what he said was a misguided desire for nation-building by some in Washington.
“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 US 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 various far-right figures.