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| - In March 2026, Joe Kent — the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center and a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump since 2020 — announced his resignation, citing Trump's war on Iran.
Images and text purportedly showing his resignation letter then spread online, and Snopes readers searched the site and wrote in to find out whether the letter was real.
The letter was authentic; Kent posted it early on March 17, 2026. As of this writing, his X post (archived) has more than 94 million views. The image of the letter was captioned:
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. It has been an honor serving under [Trump] and [Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard] and leading the professionals at NCTC. May God bless America.
The letter was addressed to Trump and reiterated Kent's longstanding support for Trump's values and foreign policy, but claimed the president's "America first" platform was undermined beginning in June 2025 by "high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media" who deceived him using the "same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women."
In 2019, Kemp's wife, Shannon Smith, was killed in Syria in a war Kent described in his letter as "manufactured by Israel." After she died, he went on to campaign against the the United States' "war on terror," saying in 2022, "If I had my way, we would go back to the very start of the War on Terror and hold people accountable."
The letter read, in full:
President Trump,
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.
I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.
In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS.
Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.
As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, 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.
I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.
It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation.
Joseph Kent
Director, National Counterterrorism Center
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