Top US counterterrorism official had lost first wife to 2019 suicide bombing in Syria: Who is Joseph Kent?

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

Kent says Israeli lobby pushed US into Iran war

Kent expressed his disappointment in his letter and stepped down from his position on the war. He wrote that high-ranking Israeli officers and influential members of the American media sowed a misinformation campaign and pro-war sentiments against Iran. The lobby, he argued, made President Trump believe that if he strikes now, he could win the war, which was a lie. He further called it an Israeli tactic used to draw the United States into the Iraq war.

Who is Joseph Kent?

Joseph Kent, aged 45, served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the United States for less than a year. He was appointed to serve as the chief of the counterterrorism office in February 2025.

Kent is a former soldier with US Army Special Forces who completed 11 combat deployments from 1998-2018, including the US-Iraq War. After retiring from the military, he joined the CIA’s Special Activities Center as a paramilitary officer.

In his resignation letter, Kent has described the Iraq war as one ‘manufactured by Israel’.

Campaigned as a Republican twice in the US Congress

Kent then moved onto launching his political career. He campaigned as a Republican to represent Southwestern Washington state in the US Congress in 2022 and 2024. A former political candidate, he was criticised for hiring a member of a far-right US military organisation Proud Boys as a consultant for his election bid in 2022.

Lost his first wife in suicide bombing in Syria

Joseph Kent’s first wife Shannon Kent, a US Navy cryptologic technician, was killed in a 2019 suicide bombing in Manbij, Syria while deployed alongside the US special operation forces. She was survived by her two children. Joseph Kent later married Heather Kent.

The US intervened in the Syrian Civil war in 2014, primarily to fight ISIS through Operation Inherent Resolve. The US carried out a direct strike against the Syrian government in 2018. In 2019, President Trump withdrew the SDF following the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.