The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into Joseph Kent, a senior US counterterrorism official who resigned in protest over the war in Iran, over allegations that he leaked classified information.
Kent, who served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, stepped down on Tuesday, March 17, writing to Donald Trump that he could not “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,” Kent said in his resignation.
Reports by outlets including the New York Times and CBS indicate that the FBI investigation began months before his resignation, with one source describing it as a “months-long” probe. The bureau has not publicly commented on the matter.
Kent, a former special forces member and longtime Trump ally, had been appointed to lead the NCTC, where he worked under Tulsi Gabbard to coordinate the United States’ response to terrorism threats and serve as a key adviser to the president.
Responding to the resignation, Trump criticised Kent’s stance. He described him as “very weak on security” and said it was a “good thing that he’s out.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected the claims made in Kent’s letter. She said it was “insulting and laughable” to suggest that the decision to go to war had been influenced externally, adding that the president acted on credible intelligence.
“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” Leavitt said. The case adds a new layer of controversy to the ongoing conflict with Iran, as scrutiny intensifies over both the conduct of the war and internal divisions within the US national security establishment.