WASHINGTON (Realist English). Former director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, has said that Washington’s withdrawal from NATO will be driven not by a desire to avoid foreign entanglements but by the need to support Israel in a future clash with Turkey in Syria.
His remarks come amid growing concern over President Donald Trump’s intentions to reconsider US membership in the alliance.
‘Leaving NATO won’t help avoid wars’
In a social media post, Kent wrote: “Unfortunately, leaving NATO won’t be to avoid foreign entanglements, we’ll be leaving NATO so we can side with Israel when Turkey & Israel eventually clash in Syria.” He added that this follows the US having helped topple the secular Syrian government and “installed a former AQ/ISIS leader as president.”
“Time to stop playing arsonist and fireman in the Middle East, it’s just not worth it,” Kent concluded.
Trump’s threats to NATO
Kent’s statement came in response to recent remarks by Trump, who said he was “strongly considering” pulling the US out of NATO after allied countries refused to support the American‑Israeli war on Iran. In an interview with The Telegraph, Trump called NATO a “paper tiger.” His statement was described as the most direct threat yet to the 77‑year‑old transatlantic defence pact and an escalation that turns frustration over basing rights into an existential crisis for the alliance.
Asked whether he would reconsider US membership in NATO after the conflict, Trump replied: “Oh yes, I would say it’s beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
Who is Joe Kent?
Joseph Clay Kent was born on 11 April 1980 in Sweet Home, Oregon. He began his 20‑year career serving America in 1998, joining the 75th Ranger Regiment. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Kent was already on the front lines. During his service, he undertook 11 combat deployments, mainly to Iraq, and also took part in operations in Yemen and North Africa. For his bravery, he was awarded six Bronze Stars.
Later he joined the elite Green Berets, rising to the rank of chief warrant officer. After retiring in 2018, Kent did not leave the intelligence community but moved to the CIA, serving as a paramilitary officer in its Special Activities Center, which conducts high‑risk operations abroad.
In 2025, Trump appointed him director of the National Counterterrorism Centre. Kent attracted attention when he resigned after the start of the war with Iran.
The turning point in Kent’s life came in 2019. On 16 January, his wife, US Navy Chief Warrant Officer Shannon Kent, was killed in a suicide bombing by ISIS in the Syrian city of Manbij. She was an outstanding cryptologist, spoke seven languages and was considered one of the few women to work side by side with special forces on the front line.
The loss was particularly hard for Kent, as the couple left behind two young sons (aged three and 18 months at the time of the tragedy).
In his famous resignation letter, Kent directly linked his wife’s death to the actions of the Israeli lobby, calling the war “fabricated by Israel”. It was this loss, he said, that drove him to leave the shadows of intelligence and enter public politics.
After his wife’s death, Kent briefly left public service and attempted to build a political career. In 2022 and 2024, he ran for the US House of Representatives from Washington’s 3rd congressional district. Both campaigns ended in failure, with defeats to Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
The explosive resignation letter
In his farewell letter, published on social media, Kent wrote that early in the current administration, senior Israeli officials and influential members of the American media had conducted a disinformation campaign that undermined Trump’s “America First” platform and promoted war with Iran.
“We cannot make this mistake again,” he stressed, comparing the situation to the tactics he said the Israelis had used to drag the US into the Iraq war, which cost thousands of American lives.