US President Donald Trump on Tuesday welcomed the resignation of National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) director Joe Kent, saying the senior counterterrorism official was “very weak on security” and that it was “a good thing” he stepped down after protesting the ongoing Iran war.
Trump dismisses Kent after Oval Office remarks
Speaking to reporters during a press briefing in the Oval Office, Trump reacted sharply after Kent resigned earlier in the day over the administration’s military campaign in Iran.Trump said, “I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security,” referring to Kent, who had served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center.He added that after reading Kent’s resignation statement, “I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out.”Trump also told reporters, “I always thought he was a nice guy, but I also believed he was weak on security—very weak… When I read his statement, I realised it’s a good thing he’s out, because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat—every country realized that…”Trump further said that if someone in his administration did not believe Iran posed 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”..
Joe Kent resigns, says he cannot back Iran war
Kent announced his resignation on Tuesday, saying he could no longer support the Trump administration’s military action in Iran.Kent said he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.”In a statement posted on social media, Kent went further, saying, “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.”That claim directly challenges the White House’s justification for the strikes and underscores growing unease within sections of Trump’s political base over the conflict.
Resignation puts spotlight on White House’s Iran justification
Kent’s departure is significant because he was heading one of the US government’s key counterterrorism agencies at a time of heightened security concerns at home.According to news agency AP, Kent had been confirmed to the post last July on a 52-44 Senate vote. As NCTC director, he oversaw an agency responsible for analysing and detecting terrorist threats.His resignation reflects broader discomfort within parts of Trump’s support base over the war, and shows that questions about the rationale for striking Iran have now surfaced from within the administration itself.Kent’s resignation letter, as per AP, was rooted in what he viewed as a lack of evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat, a point the Trump administration has repeatedly disputed.
Republicans defend strikes, Democrats back Kent on this point
Trump allies quickly pushed back on Kent’s claim.House Speaker Mike Johnson said there was “clearly an imminent threat” from Iran, arguing that Tehran was close to nuclear enrichment capability and rapidly building missiles.Johnson added that if Trump had waited, “we would have mass casualties of Americans, service members and others, and our installation would have been dramatically damaged”.Democrats, however, found rare common ground with Kent on the central issue of the war’s justification.Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, “I strongly disagree with many of the positions he has espoused over the years, particularly those that risk politicizing our intelligence community. 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.”
Exit comes amid heightened domestic terror concerns
Kent’s resignation also comes at a sensitive time for US national security.His exit from the administration follows a string of violent incidents in recent days, including attacks in New York City, Michigan and Virginia that have heightened concerns about threats inside the United States.The personnel change at the top of the NCTC therefore comes as intelligence and law enforcement agencies are facing renewed scrutiny over the homeland threat picture.Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel are due to testify before lawmakers later this week on threats facing the US, a hearing now likely to be dominated by questions over the Iran war and the intelligence used to justify it.
A divisive figure inside and outside the administration
Kent has long been a prominent and controversial figure in Trump-aligned national security circles.As per AP, before joining the administration, he ran two unsuccessful congressional campaigns in Washington state and had built a profile among Trump supporters through his military and intelligence background.A former Green Beret, Kent saw combat in 11 deployments before retiring from Special Forces and later joining the CIA, AP reported. His wife, Navy cryptologist Shannon Kent, was killed in Syria in 2019 in an Islamic State suicide bombing.At the same time, Democrats had strongly opposed his confirmation over his past links to far-right figures and conspiracy theories, though Republicans defended his counterterrorism credentials.For now, his resignation has handed Trump another internal flashpoint over the Iran war, with the president using Kent’s exit not as a sign of dissent, but as an opportunity to double down on his claim that the strikes were necessary.
