AS RECRIMINATIONS RUMBLE on following the dramatic resignation of senior US intelligence official Joe Kent, it is clear the former US special forces soldier is far from an anti-Trumper.

In his resignation letter he said he could not support the war in Iran, claiming that President Donald Trump had started the conflict because of pressure from the powerful pro-Israeli lobby in America.

He accused senior figures in the US government of acting in concert with Israeli officials to spread “misinformation”.  

Trump responded to the resignation during his press conference alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, calling Kent a “nice guy” but accusing him of being “weak on security”. 

Kent deployed 11 times as a Green Beret before joining the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a paramilitary officer. 

The Green Beret’s speciality is unconventional warfare, acting in small groups with local insurgencies in wartime. The CIA’s paramilitary officers are part of its Special Operations Centre and they carry out covert missions in support of insurgencies and other activities in support of intelligence operations. 

His job was to report directly to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and he was heavily involved in analysing and the detection of potential terrorist attacks. 

Following his military service Kent made two unsuccessful political bids to become a congressman for Washington State.

Kent left his service and became Trump’s election campaign advisor on counterterrorism in 2020. 

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 threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this… pic.twitter.com/prtu86DpEr

— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 17, 2026

Father-of-two Kent is a widower – his wife Shannon served in the US Navy as a cryptologist. She was killed in a suicide bombing by ISIS along with other US military personnel at a restaurant in Syria in 2019. It was after this that Kent became involved in political advocacy. 

Kent had shown gratitude to Trump following the death and spoke about the US president’s empathy. 

The former special forces soldier has, in the past, supported conspiracy theories that Trump did not lose the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. 

Kent’s political positions are libertarian and conservative, but his support for hard right groups saw him align with so-called American militia groups, such as the Proud Boys. He is opposed to American intervention policies. 

As in keeping with many in the Trump political orbit, he espouses robust support for Christian activists including Patriot Prayer, which is a nationalist group. 

Democrat members opposed his appointment as chief of the National Counterterrorism Centre due to his involvement with far-right figures and his attraction to conspiracy theories. 

He is also a supporter of the 6 January rioters at the Capitol and defended Trump’s involvement, stating that the president had lost control of the violent mob.