Tipsheet

Why Trump's National Counterintelligence Chief Just Resigned

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  March 17, 2026 12:15 PM

Operation Epic Fury is going well. Iran’s regional capabilities are being degraded. Its supreme leader is dead; its new one might be unacceptable (he might be gay); its navy is annihilated; and the political and military leadership is virtually wiped out. The head was decapitated in Tehran. Its nuclear ambitions were halted, and its ballistic missile capacity and infrastructure are being dismantled. Their proxies cannot retaliate in any meaningful way. We’re winning this war. 

As for the Strait of Hormuz, that will reopen. It’s not a matter of if but when. Still, Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned today over the operation, saying he couldn’t, in good conscience, continue working with the Trump administration. He posted his letter on Twitter earlier today: 

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 war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. 

Oh, of course, it’s Israel, right? A nation seeking nuclear weapons and one that chants ‘death to America’ daily isn’t a threat? Tehran has been at war with us since 1979. Anyone on either side of this fence knows this to be true. Scores of Iranian operations have led to the deaths of hundreds of Americans. 

They were within striking distance of acquiring a nuclear bomb. They admitted it during negotiations, so this departure is what it is.  

But Joe could’ve left quietly and chose not to—now, former officials are calling him out for pretty much working against the president.  

And no, this isn’t evidence of a MAGA split. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to Kent's post:

There are many false claims in this letter but let me address one specifically: that "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation."

This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over.

As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first. 

This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum. 

Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.  

The Iranian regime is evil. It proudly killed Americans, waged war against our country, and openly threatened us all the way up to the launch of Operation Epic Fury. 

Iran was aggressively expanding their short-range ballistic missiles to combine with their naval assets to give themselves immunity – meaning they would have a degree of a capabilities that would give them immunity to hold us and the rest of the world hostage. 

The regime aimed to use those ballistic missiles as a shield to continue achieving their ultimate goal – nuclear weapons. 

The President, through his top negotiators, gave the regime every single possible opportunity to abandon this unacceptable course by permanently giving up their nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief, free nuclear fuel, and potential economic partnerships with our country. 

But they would not say yes to peace because obtaining nuclear weapons was their fundamental goal. 

President Trump ultimately made the determination that a joint attack with Israel would greatly reduce the risk to American lives that would come from a first strike by the terrorist Iranian regime and address this imminent threat to America’s national security interests. 

All of this led to President Trump arriving at the determination that this military operation was necessary for U.S. national security, which is why he launched the massively successful Operation Epic Fury. 

The Commander-in-Chief determines what does and does not constitute a threat, because he is the one constitutionally empowered to do so - and because the American people went to the ballot box and entrusted him and him alone to make such final judgments.  

And finally, the absurd allegation that President Trump made this decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable. President Trump has been remarkably consistent and has said for DECADES that Iran can NEVER possess a nuclear weapon.  

As someone who actually witnesses President Trump’s decision-making process on a daily basis, I can attest to the fact that he is always looking to do what’s in the best interest of the United States of America — period.  

America First.