The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly investigating Joe Kent, the former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, over an alleged leak of classified information. The inquiry predates Kent's resignation on Tuesday, which he said was in protest of 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 right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson that dissenting voices were excluded from the decision-making process leading to the strikes. He claimed that President Donald Trump relied on a tight inner circle of advisers, sidelining officials who questioned the intelligence and strategic wisdom behind the action. Kent insisted there was no evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat to the US.
Kent alleged that Israel drove the decision to strike, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials lobbying Trump with claims not aligned with established intelligence channels. He said Israeli officials sometimes present unverified information to US officials, which does not usually come to fruition. Critics have condemned these remarks as veering into offensive tropes about an 'Israeli lobby'.
Kent noted that the US and Israel have divergent goals, with Israel seeking regime change in Iran while the US shies away from it. He said he resigned after realising his concerns would be ignored, stating, 'I can't be a part of this in good conscience.'
Kent, a former Green Beret and CIA officer, served 11 deployments. His wife, a navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in Syria in 2019. He has since remarried. His former role at the National Counterterrorism Center was overseen by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who said it was up to Trump alone to decide whether Iran posed a threat.
