Subordinates with different opinions about policies can be helpful. Subordinates with different views of reality aren’t.
On Wednesday, Joe Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a spot President Donald Trump had appointed him to. Mr. Kent did not go quietly into the night. He posted his resignation letter on X.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” he wrote. “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.”
Mr. Kent certainly has an impressive record of military service, including 11 deployments. He deserves the nation’s gratitude but not blind acceptance of his claims, especially after rushing to appear on Tucker Carlson’s show.
Start with his assertion that Iran didn’t pose an imminent threat.
Iran hasn’t been hiding its hatred of America. Its leaders have chanted “Death to America.” It has acted on that sentiment, too. In 1983, a bombing by its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, killed 241 U.S. service members. Throughout the decades, Iranian-backed groups have committed and facilitated terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Tanzania, Israel and Iraq. Those attacks resulted in the deaths of scores of Americans. Plus, Iranian-backed groups killed hundreds of U.S. service members during the Iraq War.
In November 2024, the Biden administration announced charges related to a scheme by the Iranian government to assassinate Mr. Trump.
“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said at the time.
Next, there’s the “imminent” qualifier. That’s a bit of a weasel word, although Iran working to assassinate Mr. Trump would qualify.
But Mr. Kent misses the point. Iran is a real threat. Even the Biden administration acknowledged that. The best time to deal with a threat is when an opponent is at his weakest. Imagine if Iran became an imminent threat, say by building a nuclear weapon. The number of American casualities required to defeat it then would be unimaginably higher.
The assertion that Mr. Trump bowed to pressure from Israel or its allies is laughable. Mr. Trump has blazed his own political path — and very successfully. He’s also said dozens of times, dating to at least 2011, that Iran can’t obtain a nuclear weapon. If Mr. Trump continues to stay the course in Iran, he’ll achieve that.
If that’s objectionable to other members of his administration, they should follow Mr. Kent out the door.
