A former military officer who also served in the CIA, Kent was nominated by US President Donald Trump for the position of counterterrorism chief in February 2025 and confirmed by the Senate in July of the same year. He completed 11 combat tours, mostly in Iraq, before leaving the military in 2018:
Director of National Inteligence
National Counterterrorism Center
President Trump,
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.
I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent treat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.
I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. 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.
In your fist administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without geting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS.
Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was clear path to a swift vitory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israels used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.
As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I 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.
I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.
It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation.
Joseph Kent
Director, National Counterterrorism Center
* * * End of the Letter * * *
As soon as the letter became public, speculation began about divisions within the Administration over the war on Iran. Kent was proclaimed a highly moral person who valued his beliefs more than his office. Is that really true?
Former U.S. army officer Stanislav Krapivnik does not consider Kent’s move noble. He believes that Kent should have made this move as soon as he learned that Iran was going to be attacked, and not only on the eighteenth day when defeat became certain. This qualified him only to be the first rat to abandon ship.
In my opinion, another of the few rational members of the US Administration has been removed, and will undoubtedly be replaced by a hardened Zionist. Only the most dangerous fanatics will remain, ready to cause global chaos at any cost. Running away from this Administration will not help anyone – it must be fought against.
In any case, Joe Kent is certainly not Clark Kent…
