The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating Joe Kent, the former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, over an alleged leak of classified information, according to reports from Semafor and CBS News. The inquiry predates Kent's resignation on Tuesday, in which he became the first senior administration official to quit over the US airstrikes on Iran on 28 February. The FBI declined to comment on the existence of any such investigation.
In his first media interview since stepping down, Kent told rightwing commentator Tucker Carlson that dissenting voices were frozen out of the decision-making process leading to the strikes. 'A good deal of key decision makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to the president,' he said on The Tucker Carlson Show podcast. 'There wasn't a robust debate.' Kent, a staunch Donald Trump ally and conspiracy theorist, insisted there was no evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat or was close to gaining a nuclear weapon.
Kent alleged that Israel effectively forced Trump's hand. 'The Israelis drove the decision to take this action,' he claimed, asserting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials lobbied the president with claims not aligned with established intelligence channels. He added that Israeli officials sometimes 'say all kinds of things that we know from our intelligence just simply isn't true.' Critics swiftly condemned these remarks as veering into offensive tropes about an 'Israeli lobby.'
Kent, a former Green Beret and CIA officer, noted that the US and Israel have divergent goals. 'I don't believe that our objective has been clearly defined because we're shying away from regime change. The Israelis are not shying from regime change,' he said. He resigned after it became obvious his concerns would be ignored, stating, 'I can't be a part of this in good conscience.'
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who oversaw Kent's work, said on Wednesday that it was up to Trump alone to decide whether Iran posed a threat. Kent's resignation and the subsequent FBI investigation mark a significant development in the fallout from the US strikes on Iran.
