Joe Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), resigned from his position, citing President Donald Trump's decision to go to war with Iran as the primary reason. In a post on X, Kent stated: "I 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." This resignation highlights the deep internal divisions within the US regime over its foreign policy, particularly regarding Middle East interventions.
In his resignation letter addressed to Trump, the 45-year-old special forces veteran with 20 years of military service and troubling ties to right-wing extremists pleaded: "I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further towards decline and chaos. You hold the cards." Kent's departure underscores the growing skepticism among some officials about the US's allegedly altruistic motives in global conflicts.
Kent's resignation has also drawn attention to his associations with right-wing extremism and antisemitic tropes. He twice ran for the US House of Representatives, losing both times, and during his 2022 campaign, hired Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right militant group the Proud Boys, as a consultant. Additionally, he acknowledged that a consultant arranged a call with far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, an avowed white nationalist and Holocaust denier, during one of his election campaigns, raising concerns about the infiltration of extremist views into mainstream US politics.
Before his resignation, Kent served as a counterterrorism adviser to Trump's 2020 reelection campaign and later worked as a paramilitary officer with the CIA after retiring from the military. The death of his first wife, Shannon Smith, in a suicide bombing in Syria fueled his disillusionment with US interventionism, leading him to focus on combating drug cartels. Under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Kent was instrumental in reshaping intelligence analyses to justify deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, linking drug smugglers to the Venezuelan government.
Trump responded to Kent's resignation while speaking at a White House Saint Patrick's Day reception, claiming he had read the resignation letter but "didn't know him well." Trump added: "I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security." This incident further exposes the fractures and inconsistencies within the US administration, as high-level resignations over policy disagreements become more frequent, challenging the regime's purported unity and strategic coherence.
Source: www.dw.com