President Donald Trump has shown little concern over the resignation of Joe Kent as Director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center, describing his departure as “a good thing.”
Speaking on Tuesday alongside visiting Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, the President said he had read Kent’s statement. While noting that Kent appeared to be a pleasant individual, Trump characterized him as “weak on security.”
“I didn’t know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy,” he told reporters at the Oval. “It’s a good thing he’s out, because he said that Iran was not a threat.”
Trump reiterated his position that Iran represents a serious threat, insisting that “every country realized” this, and adding, “The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it.”
The President also renewed his criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, faulting the alliance for not offering military backing in the conflict with Iran and accusing it of failing to match the United States’ contributions.
Expressing frustration, Trump said he had long questioned whether NATO would step in if the U.S. required support: “NATO is making a very foolish mistake…This is a good test.”
In his resignation letter, Kent—a Gold Star veteran who has been deployed to combat 11 times—argued that the public had been misled into believing Iran posed an immediate threat to the United States.
The former director further claimed that Israel played a role in influencing Washington’s decision to carry out strikes on Iran, similar to how the ally drew the U.S. “into the disastrous Iraq war” that claimed thousands of service members.
Kent cautioned the President against deploying ground troops in Iran, stating his opposition to “sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed Kent’s remarks as “false claims,” saying his assertion that Iran posed no imminent threat echoed the “same false claim” repeated by Democrats and others.
In a post on X, Leavitt said President Trump deployed military resources because Iran sponsors terrorism, “killed Americans, and openly threatened us all the way up to the launch of Operation Epic Fury.”
