Prakash Kafle/Kathmandu Joe Kent, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), resigned on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, marking the first high-level departure from the Trump administration since the conflict with Iran escalated. Kent, a decorated former Green Beret and a staunch supporter of the “America First” movement, released a scathing resignation letter addressed to President Donald Trump. In the letter, he stated that he could no longer “in good conscience” support a war that he believes was manufactured under intense pressure from external actors.
Kent directly challenged the administration’s justification for the military action, asserting that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States. He claimed that the president was misled by a “misinformation campaign” led by high-ranking Israeli officials and an influential American media “echo chamber.” Drawing a painful parallel to the Iraq War, Kent—a Gold Star husband who lost his wife, Navy Senior Chief Shannon Kent, in Syria in 2019—emphasized that he refuses to send a new generation of Americans to “fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people.”
In response, President Trump dismissed the resignation, labeling Kent “very weak on security” and stating it was a “good thing” he was out of the administration. While the White House maintains that the war is a necessary defensive measure, Kent’s exit has intensified the domestic debate over the true motivations behind the conflict and its mounting human and financial costs.
इरान युद्धविरुद्ध उभिँदै अमेरिकी शीर्ष अधिकारी बाहिरिए, केन्टको कदमले बहस चर्कायो
