March 17, 2026, 8:54 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — A top counterterrorism official’s resignation over the Iran war has put the spotlight on his boss and political ally, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who built her career as an outspoken critic of “regime change” wars.
Gabbard will face questioning Wednesday when she testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee, a day after Joe Kent, the head of the National Center for Counterterrorism, announced he was stepping down because he could not in “good conscience” support the war and because “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.”
Kent was among officials in the administration, including Gabbard and Vice President JD Vance, who view themselves as restraint-minded Republicans wary of open-ended wars like those in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Lawmakers are expected to press Gabbard to defend President Donald Trump’s handling of the U.S.-Israeli aerial assault on Iran, now in its third week, and to say whether she agrees with the administration’s contention that military action was necessary because of an imminent threat from Tehran.
For Gabbard — who ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat and later endorsed Trump in 2024, portraying him as a bulwark against new foreign wars — her response could define whether she maintains her image as a veteran determined to keep America out of imperial quagmires.
Gabbard has been mostly silent since the U.S.-Israeli strikes began Feb. 28. Hours after Kent resigned, she posted a statement that made no mention of her deputy’s departure and said it was up to Trump to decide whether intelligence assessments justified going to war.
As commander in chief, Trump “is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat, and whether or not to take action he deems necessary to protect the safety and security of our troops, the American people and our country,” Gabbard wrote. After reviewing the intelligence, she added, “President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion.”
She did not say whether the agencies she oversees found Iran presented an urgent threat because of nuclear ambitions, missile capabilities or proxy activities. U.S. intelligence assessments indicate the regime is not on the verge of collapse, despite predictions by Trump when the war began, NBC News has reported.
Gabbard’s neutral language — avoiding her own interpretation of intelligence — was unusual for the nation’s top-ranking intelligence official weeks after a major decision to enter a largescale air war.
“We haven’t seen much of Gabbard since Trump attacked Iran, so this will be high stakes for her,” Justin Logan of the Cato Institute said of the congressional hearing.
Marjorie Taylor Greene urged Gabbard and Vance to speak candidly after Kent’s resignation. “People are paying attention, very close attention. Silence won’t cut it,” Greene posted on social media, noting both had publicly opposed going to war with Iran.
The White House dismissed Kent’s criticisms in his resignation letter, in which he said Israeli officials and members of the U.S. news media had deceived Trump that the U.S. needed to initiate war. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had “strong and compelling evidence” that Iran was going to attack the United States first and cited Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, past killings of Americans, its ballistic missile program and missed diplomatic opportunities.
Trump called Kent “a nice guy” but said he always viewed him as “weak on security,” and said Kent’s statement reinforced that view.
Polls show Americans divided on the strikes, and some Republican strategists worry a protracted war could hurt GOP candidates in November. An NBC News poll taken as the strikes began found 77% of Republicans supported striking Iran while 15% opposed it; among MAGA-aligned respondents, 90% backed the strikes. A large majority of Democrats opposed them.
Sen. Rand Paul, a longtime skeptic of U.S. wars, said Kent provided a welcome voice of caution. Retired Army officer Daniel Davis, who served with Kent and called his resignation an act of “moral courage,” said the strikes likely weighed heavily on officials who share Kent’s views and that he could not imagine continuing to work under those conditions.
Davis, a fellow at Defense Priorities who had been nominated to serve with Kent in the National Intelligence Director’s Office, had his nomination withdrawn by Gabbard in March over his critical views on Israel’s war in Gaza. Gabbard herself was publicly at odds with Trump last year after telling lawmakers intelligence indicated Iran was not building a nuclear weapon; Trump later said he did not care what she had said.