He warned that intelligence assessments may have been distorted by external influence, alleging that Israeli officials and media narratives contributed to an “echo chamber” that overstated the immediacy of the threat.
“This was a lie,” Kent wrote, drawing a parallel to the lead-up to the Iraq War, which he described as a costly mistake the United States should not repeat.
Kent’s departure leaves a significant gap at the National Counterterrorism Center, an agency tasked with coordinating intelligence on terrorist organizations, transnational criminal networks, and other global threats.
Before taking the role, Kent served as a senior aide to Gabbard and built a long career in national security. He completed 11 combat deployments during 20 years in the U.S. Army before transitioning to the CIA. He is also a Gold Star spouse; his first wife, Shannon Kent, a Navy cryptologist, was killed in a 2019 suicide bombing in Syria.
