{"id":1967,"date":"2026-03-17T22:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/?p=1967"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:25:16","slug":"trumps-counter-terrorism-chief-quits-in-protest-over-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/?p=1967","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s counter terrorism chief quits in protest over Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Washington, The Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), Joe Kent, has resigned with immediate effect, in a significant setback to President Donald Trump and the first high-level exit from the administration in protest against the ongoing Iran war.
\u201cAfter much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today,\u201d Kent said in a public statement Tuesday.
He directly challenged the rationale for the conflict. \u201cI cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.\u201d
Kent also acknowledged his tenure. \u201cIt has been an honor serving under @POTUS and @DNIGabbard and leading the professionals at NCTC. May God bless America.\u201d
The White House did not immediately respond to a question on his resignation.
In a resignation letter addressed to President Trump, Kent expanded on his concerns, reiterating that Iran \u201cposed no imminent threat to our nation\u201d and warning against repeating past strategic mistakes in the Middle East.
He said the United States risked being drawn into another costly conflict under flawed assumptions. Kent added that \u201cwe cannot make this mistake again\u201d and cautioned against decisions driven by external pressure and misinformation.
Drawing on his personal experience, Kent said he could not support sending \u201cthe 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\u201d.
The resignation triggered a sharp political response, including from Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark R Warner, who criticised Kent\u2019s record but endorsed his core claim on Iran.
\u201cJoe Kent\u2019s record is deeply troubling, and in my view, he never should have been confirmed to lead the National Counterterrorism Center,\u201d Warner said.
\u201cI strongly disagree with many of the positions he has espoused over the years, particularly those that risk politicizing our intelligence community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Warner added: \u201cBut 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.\u201d
He warned that politically driven decisions could have serious consequences. \u201cIgnoring the facts to pursue a predetermined war puts American lives at risk and undermines our national security,\u201d Warner said.
\u201cThe United States cannot be led into conflict on the basis of politics, impulse, or a president\u2019s desire for confrontation. We have seen where this road leads before.\u201d
Kent\u2019s departure highlights emerging tensions within the administration over the conduct and justification of the Iran conflict, particularly around intelligence assessments and decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Counterterrorism Centre plays a central role in analysing terrorism threats and coordinating intelligence across agencies, making the resignation of its director highly unusual and politically sensitive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, The Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), Joe Kent, has resigned with immediate effect, in a significant setback to President Donald Trump and the first high-level exit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-display","category-international","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1969,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967\/revisions\/1969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}