Joe Kent – a former CIA officer who has promoted several conspiracy theories – has been appointed to lead the National Counterterrorism Center by the U.S. Senate.
Kent, a two‑time Republican congressional candidate, was confirmed in a 52‑44 vote on Wednesday after being tapped by the Trump administration for the top role.
Every Republican except Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina voted in favor of his appointment. All Democrats voted against it.
Highlights
- Joe Kent, a former CIA officer and January 6 conspiracy theorist, was Senate-confirmed 52-44 to lead the National Counterterrorism Center.
- Kent has promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the Capitol attack and is linked to white supremacist and far-right groups.
- Kent allegedly pressured intelligence analysts to alter reports to align with political agendas during his acting period at the DNI.
Joe Kent has been appointed to lead the National Counterterrorism Center
Image credits: Tom Williams/Getty Images
Kent has touted conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from President Donald Trump and that the FBI played a role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and should be dismantled.
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said any counterterrorism director “must be trusted to tell the truth and to uphold the core principles of the intelligence community: Objectivity, nonpartisanship and fidelity to fact.”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Kent has shown time and again that he cannot meet the standard,” Warner added.
Kent has been linked to white supremacists and far-right extremist organizations, and has been interviewed by Greyson Arnold, a neo-Nazi streamer.
He supports Trump’s use of executive and wartime powers, such as using the Alien Enemies Act to justify the removal of immigrants allegedly linked to criminal organizations.
Kent’s previous political campaigns were also endorsed by Nazi-sympathizer Nick Fuentes, though Kent later sought to distance himself.
Kent is against abortion, previously comparing it to human slavery.
As head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent intends to redirect significant attention toward transnational criminal organizations, particularly Latin American gangs tied to migration.
“President Trump is committed to identifying these cartels and these violent gang members and making sure that we locate them and that we get them out of our country,” Kent said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in April.
While he was serving as the acting chief of staff to the Director of National Intelligence earlier this year, Kent ordered a reassessment of initial intelligence findings regarding the relationship between the Venezuelan government and a gang.
The initial intelligence findings weakened the Trump administration’s argument for deporting immigrants, officials told the New York Times.
Kent reportedly pressured the analyst to make edits before the document was published.
“Before we publish this in the PDB or as a wire product, we need to do some re-writing, a little more analysis so this document is not used against the DNI or POTUS,” Kent said in an email on April 3, as reported by CBS News.
Kent, a former CIA officer, has been linked to white-supremacist and far-right extremist organizations
Image credits: Tom Williams/Getty Images
In a statement, Warner described the emails as “a blatant attempt to politicize national security to appease a president who has repeatedly shown contempt for facts and for the intelligence professionals sworn to defend this country.”
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes, a Democrat, said in a statement: “Seeking to strongarm analysts to suit the agenda of the President, and punishing them when they refuse to bend, is a road to national security disaster—and yet that is precisely the road that this Administration has chosen.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly disagreed with the intelligence community’s conclusions that found no credible evidence that Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro or senior officials were directing or coordinating Tren de Aragua (TDA) activities or migration to the United States. Rubio said he supported the FBI’s view, which suggested some Venezuelan officials were helping TDA members migrate.
Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, has previously endorsed Kent’s political runs and fired two officials who were among the email recipients discussing the memorandum that Kent recommended edits to.
Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Kent’s deputy, Alexa Henning, said on X, “These Biden holdovers were dismissed because they politicized intelligence.”
Kent has also been tied to opaque campaign finance practices, specifically regarding millions of dollars from his committees and PACs that were funneled into apparent shell companies.
According to The Guardian, these received nearly $1.25m from his campaign and over $900,000 from his joint fundraising committee in the 2023–24 election cycle, labeled only as “strategy consulting.”
These companies share addresses with entities linked to Republican operative Thomas Datwyler and far-right activist Matt Braynard, who served as Kent’s spokesman and has longstanding white nationalist associations.
Despite warnings from intelligence leaders and Democratic lawmakers, Trump stood by Kent’s nomination.
Image credits: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
GOP senators ultimately confirmed him to lead the center, which coordinates the nation’s counterterrorism strategy and collaborates with the CIA, FBI, and the Department of Defense.
Senator Tom Cotton, the GOP chair of the intelligence committee, said in a floor speech that Kent “has dedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe.”
The appointment is the latest example of Trump’s establishment reshaping the administration to reflect Trump’s hard‑right vision.
Controversial figures appointed include Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe at the CIA, William Ruger in the Office of the DNI, and Dan Bongino at the FBI.