Senior US counterterrorism official resigns to protest Iran warJoseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned to protest the US-Israel war on IranWASHINGTON (UNITED STATES) - A senior US counterterrorism official resigned on Tuesday to protest the US-Israeli war against Iran and said the Islamic Republic posed no imminent threat to the United States. "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran," Joseph Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), said in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump. Kent, 45, who was appointed to head the NCTC by Trump, is the first senior US official to resign from his administration to protest the war against Iran. Kent's wife, Shannon, also served in the US military and was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019. "I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives," he added.

Source: Bangkok Post March 18, 2026 04:36 UTC