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In protest over the conflict with Iran, the chief of the National Counterterrorism Center resigned. Army veteran Joe Kent stated that he "cannot in good conscience" support the war.
The United States entered the battle due to pressure from Israel, he claimed, and Iran "posed no imminent threat to our nation."
In reaction to the Trump administration's assault against Iran, Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday.
In a letter to President Donald Trump uploaded on his personal X account, Kent stated, "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war."
In July of last year, the Senate barely approved Kent, a proponent of far-right conspiracy theories, for the director position. Kent accused the president of being tricked by Israel.
The president was accused of being duped by Israel by Kent, a supporter of far-right conspiracy theories who was barely approved by the Senate for the director position last July.
According to Kent, he agreed with "the values and the foreign policy" that President Trump ran on.
"Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation," Kent wrote in the letter to President Trump.
The NCTC's director oversees American counterterrorism and counternarcotics operations and provides direct advice to the president. Kent was still listed as the center's director on its official government website an hour after he announced his resignation.
The NCTC is housed within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is headed by Tulsi Gabbard, a former outspoken opponent of conflict with Iran who has remained silent about the most recent military operations of the Trump administration.
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.
Kent has already served 11 overseas deployments with the US military, including one in Iraq with the US Army's special forces.
After his wife passed away, he left government employment and joined the CIA as a paramilitary officer.
In his letter, Kent mentioned her passing and his military service, stating 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."
Senior Trump administration officials, such as Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell and Security and Exchange Commission enforcement director Margaret Ryan, have resigned.
However, compared to his first term in office, which ran from 2017 to 2021, the president's second term has experienced significantly less turnover.
