乔·肯特呼吁特朗普”改变方向”并”为我们的国家开辟新道路”
作者：阿什利·卡纳汉、摩根·菲利普斯
福克斯新闻
2026年3月17日美国东部时间上午9:51发布 | 2026年3月17日美国东部时间上午10:18更新
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美国顶级反恐官员周二辞职，抗议美国对伊朗的战争，称德黑兰并未构成迫在眉睫的威胁。
乔·肯特在社交平台X上发文称：”经过深思熟虑，我决定辞去国家反恐中心主任一职，立即生效。”
“我良心不安，无法支持正在进行的伊朗战争，”他写道，”伊朗并未对我国构成迫在眉睫的威胁，很明显，我们发动这场战争是受到以色列及其强大的美国游说团体的压力。”
在给总统唐纳德·特朗普的一封尖锐信件中，肯特表示，这场战争背离了政府此前避免在中东陷入长期冲突的方针。
伊朗政权通过数十个社交媒体账号散布反以色列宣传：报道
（图注：2025年12月11日，国家反恐中心主任约瑟夫·肯特在华盛顿特区参加众议院国土安全委员会听证会。来源：Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images）
“直到2025年6月，您都清楚中东战争是个陷阱，它夺走了美国爱国者的宝贵生命，耗尽了国家的财富和繁荣，”他表示，似乎在指2025年6月针对伊朗核设施的”午夜锤子行动”。
肯特写道，在第一任期内，特朗普明白如何”果断动用军事力量而不陷入永无止境的战争”，并以杀死伊朗前将军卡西姆·苏莱曼尼为例。
在当前被称为”史诗狂怒行动”的冲突之前，肯特声称”以色列高级官员”和媒体人士展开了一场”虚假信息运动”，旨在”破坏”美国优先政策。
“这个回声室被用来欺骗您，让您相信伊朗对美国构成迫在眉睫的威胁，以及如果您现在发动打击，就能迅速取得胜利，”肯特说。
国家反恐中心主任直接向国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德汇报，是任何政府中情报界排名前五的职位。
为何海湾国家未参与对伊朗的战争——尽管其领土遭袭
长期批评政权更迭行动的加巴德自伊朗冲突爆发以来一直保持沉默。截至发稿时，无法立即联系到她的办公室就肯特辞职置评。
一位熟悉内情的消息人士向福克斯新闻数字版证实，她最近聘请了丹·考德威尔（一位倡导克制外交政策的知名人士）担任高级情报官员顾问。
考德威尔在泄密调查期间被解除了陆军部长皮特·赫格塞斯高级顾问职务，但调查尚未公布结果。
肯特曾是一名陆军绿色贝雷帽队员和中央情报局准军事军官，经历过11次作战部署，在特朗普支持下两次竞选华盛顿州国会议员失败，后被任命为反恐负责人。
肯特已故的妻子香农是一名海军情报官员，2019年在叙利亚的一次ISIS爆炸袭击中丧生。
肯特周二在X上写道：”作为一名11次参战的老兵，以及一名因以色列制造的战争失去妻子香农的金星丈夫，我无法支持将下一代送入这场对美国人民毫无益处、却要以美国生命为代价的战争。”
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白宫尚未立即回应肯特辞职的置评请求。
2025年9月离职的特朗普副幕僚长泰勒·布多维奇在X上称肯特是”疯狂的自我中心者，经常是国家安全泄密事件的中心，却几乎（从未）产出任何实际工作成果”。
“这不是什么原则性辞职——他只是想在被解雇前制造轰动，”布多维奇周二在X上写道。
众议院议长迈克·约翰逊表示肯特”明显错了”。
“我获得了所有简报，”约翰逊周二对记者说，”我们都清楚伊朗有迫在眉睫的威胁，他们的核能力富集进展迅速，导弹生产速度让该地区无人能及。”
肯特在确认听证会上遭到民主党人的强烈反对，主要因其过去的政治言论和关联，包括被指与2021年1月6日事件相关人物有接触，以及在国会竞选期间否认选举结果的言论，但支持者指出他有丰富的战斗和情报工作经验。
史诗狂怒行动已进入第三周，该地区持续发生空袭和导弹交换，包括伊朗对美军、以色列和海湾国家的报复性打击。
虽然特朗普政府最初表示行动可能持续4-6周，但官员承认时间线可能延长，因为伊朗继续抵抗，地区紧张局势居高不下。
阿什利·卡纳汉是福克斯新闻数字版撰稿人。
Top counterterrorism official resigns in protest of US war against Iran
Joe Kent calls on Trump to ‘reverse course’ and ‘chart a new path for our nation’
By Ashley Carnahan, Morgan Phillips
Fox News
Published March 17, 2026 9:51am EDT | Updated March 17, 2026 10:18am EDT
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The nation’s top counterterrorism official resigned Tuesday in protest of the U.S. war against Iran, saying Tehran posed no imminent threat.
Joe Kent said in a post on X, “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,” 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.”
In a pointed letter to President Donald Trump, Kent said the war marked a departure from the administration’s earlier approach to avoiding prolonged conflicts in the Middle East.
IRANIAN REGIME SPREADING ANTI-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA ACROSS DOZENS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: REPORT
Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, testifies during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2025.(Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“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,” he said, seemingly referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, a series of U.S. strikes in June 2025 on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Kent wrote that in his first term, Trump understood how to “decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars,” citing the killing of former Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Prior to the current conflict known as Operation Epic Fury, Kent claimed that “high-ranking Israeli officials” and members of the media had deployed a “misinformation campaign” to “undermine” America First.
“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 an clear path to swift victory,” Kent said.
The National Counterterrorism Center director reports directly to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and is a top five intelligence community post in any administration.
WHY GULF STATES AREN’T JOINING THE WAR AGAINST IRAN — DESPITE ATTACKS ON THEIR SOIL
Gabbard, a longtime critic of regime change operations, has been quiet since the Iran conflict. Her office could not immediately be reached for comment on Kent’s resignation.
She recently hired Dan Caldwell, a prominent voice for restraint-minded foreign policy, as an advisor to senior intelligence officials, a source familiar with the move confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Caldwell was fired from his role as a senior advisor to War Secretary Pete Hegseth during a leak investigation that has not produced public results.
A former Army Green Beret and CIA paramilitary officer with 11 combat deployments, Kent ran for Congress unsuccessfully twice with Trump’s backing in the state of Washington before being appointed to his role as counterterrorism chief.
Kent’s late wife, Shannon, was a Navy intelligence officer killed in 2019 in an ISIS bombing in Syria.
Kent wrote on X Tuesday, “As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people or justifies the cost of American lives.”
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The White House could not immediately be reached for comment on Kent’s resignation.
Taylor Budowich, who departed his role as Trump’s deputy chief of staff in September 2025, claimed on X that Kent was a “crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work.”
“This isn’t some principled resignation — he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned,” Budowich wrote on X Tuesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Kent was “clearly wrong.”
“I got all the briefings,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “We all understood there was clearly an imminent threat, that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability, and they were building missiles at a pace that no one in the region could keep up with.”
Kent’s tenure drew sharp opposition from Democrats during his confirmation, largely over his past political statements and associations, including reported contacts with figures tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, movement and his alignment with election denial rhetoric during his congressional campaigns, but supporters pointed to his extensive combat and intelligence experience.
Operation Epic Fury is now in its third week, with sustained air and missile exchanges across the region, including Iranian retaliatory strikes against U.S. forces, Israel, and Gulf states.
While the Trump administration initially signaled the operation could last four to six weeks, officials have acknowledged the timeline could stretch longer as Iran continues to resist and regional tensions remain high.
Ashley Carnahan is a writer at Fox News Digital.