A former senior intelligence official who resigned in protest over the Iran war is being investigated by the FBI for allegedly leaking classified information, a source familiar with the matter said.
Longtime Trump ally and retired Green Beret Joe Kent announced his resignation Tuesday as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a source told NBC News.
Semaphore first reported the investigation.
Kent, who reports to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said Tuesday that she disagrees with the decision to go to war against Iran and that the administration does not pose an “imminent threat” as the Trump administration has asserted.
The FBI declined to comment. The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday night.
In his first interview since resigning, Kent told Tucker Carlson on Wednesday that he expected efforts to “get lost” for his protest. But he said he would welcome the opportunity to speak with President Donald Trump.
“I understand the path I’ve left, and I’m writing the letter to say that parts of this administration should come after me and try and discredit me,” Kent said. “I understand that, but I think the president is a listening person.”
“So I think he’s listening, not just to me and you, but I think he’s listening to a lot of different people, because I think he knows on a core level, this is not going well, and he needs to find a way for us to get out of this.”
Gabbard pushed back on Kent’s comments about war on Iran, writing in a post on X that the president is responsible for deciding what qualifies as an imminent threat. Gabbard wrote Tuesday that her office will work to coordinate intelligence to provide Trump with the best information possible.
At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Gabbard declined to answer whether she believed Iran’s nuclear program posed an “imminent threat.”
