By Jacob Rosen
Updated March 18, 2026 / 10:11 PM EDT / CBS News
The FBI is investigating former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent in connection with alleged leaks of classified information, multiple sources with direct knowledge tell CBS News.
Sources said the probe began before Kent resigned this week over the Trump administration’s handling of the war with Iran. The FBI’s Criminal Division is leading the investigation, which has been underway for some time, one source said.
The FBI declined to comment. Kent did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The report was first published by Semafor.
Former deputy White House chief of staff Taylor Budowich alluded to the issue shortly after Kent resigned, posting on X that Kent was “often at the center of national security leaks” and “spent all of his time working to subvert the chain of command and undermine the President.” Budowich did not specify what information Kent was accused of leaking.
Kent announced he was stepping down in an open letter Tuesday that criticized the decision to launch a war against Iran when, he wrote, the country “posed no imminent threat to our nation.” He also asserted that “it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent wrote.
He expanded on his reasoning in an interview Wednesday with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Kent told Carlson there was no intelligence indicating Iran planned a preemptive attack on the U.S. or was on the cusp of building a nuclear weapon. He also said there was not a “robust debate” before the war and claimed “the Israelis drove the decision.”
The Trump administration pushed back. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Kent’s resignation letter was filled with “false claims,” asserting Iran did pose an imminent threat to the U.S. and calling suggestions that President Trump was driven to war by another country “insulting and laughable.”
Leavitt downplayed Kent’s role, saying in a Fox News interview that Kent “was not involved in any of the discussions” before or during the Iran war and had not played a part in assembling the president’s intelligence brief “in a while.”
Kent appeared to respond to suggestions he was out of the loop during his Carlson interview, saying that even if he wasn’t invited to certain meetings he would have known they took place and understands how those meetings look.
A Trump nominee, Kent was confirmed by the Senate last summer to run the National Counterterrorism Center after serving as chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a close ally. The former Green Beret and one-time congressional candidate has drawn controversy previously: he paid a member of the far-right Proud Boys for consulting work during a House campaign, has called the 2020 election stolen, and said Dr. Anthony Fauci should be charged with murder for the “scam that is Covid.”
Asked about Kent on Tuesday, former President Trump said, “I always thought he was weak on security.” Trump added he did not know Kent well but, after reading his statement, thought “it’s a good thing that he’s out, because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was.”