DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s top national advisor Joe Kent was confirmed last week as head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) after reports in May that he directed officials to rewrite intelligence to fit the narrative of President Donald Trump.
Evidence surfaced in May via emails from March that Kent, as chief of staff to the Director of National Intelligence, directed intelligence staff to manipulate intelligence so that it matched Trump’s political narrative. Then-National Intelligence Council (NIC) Chief Michael Collins was removed from his position after he refused to do so.
Kent pressed the NIC to rewrite findings about the relationship between Venezuela’s government and the criminal gang Tren de Aragua (TDA) “so this document is not used against the DNI or POTUS,” and to emphasize supposed ties between the Venezuelan government and TDA. Despite the pressure, the April 7 assessment issued by the NIC reaffirmed the original conclusion that Venezuela’s government “probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States.”
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark R. Warner of Virginia opposed the confirmation of Kent, which was approved when Senate Republicans voted 52-44.
“His efforts to alter intelligence assessments in support of demonstrably false political claims is not only a gross violation of the solemn responsibility with which the intelligence community is charged, which is to speak truth to power regardless of politics, but it is also a threat to our ability to keep the nation safe. When intelligence is shaped to fit political agendas instead of hard facts, it blinds decision-makers to real threats, sows confusion among our allies and emboldens our adversaries,” Warner said in a statement last week.
The vote, according to Warner, was a missed opportunity to hold the Trump Administration responsible for openly politicizing American intelligence, which Gabbards had accused Collins and the NIC vice chair of doing and why they were both dismissed from their positions. Warner said the situation sets “a precedent that, if left unchecked, threatens to erode trust in our intelligence agencies, compromise the integrity of national security assessments, and ultimately make Americans less safe.”
Kent’s confirmation comes despite his right-wing extremist ties and support of conspiracy theories of the January 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol. Democrats opposed Kent’s confirmation because he paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right military group the Proud Boys, for consultation work. Kent, who enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 18 years old and served 20 years as a Green Beret, worked closely with the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer to attract support from far-right individuals.
Kent did not distance himself from a conspiracy theory about federal agents somehow instigating January 6 during his Senate confirmation hearing. He also continued to support false claims that the 2020 election was won by Trump, not President Joe Biden.
Democrats questioned him on his participation in Signalgate in early 2025 and raised concerns about Kent’s directive that an intelligence analyst revise an assessment of relations between a transnational gang and the Venezuelan government. According to Senate Democrats, Kent is not trustworthy enough to handle the nation’s most important and sensitive intelligence information.
Yet, now Kent will oversee an agency that analyzes and detects terrorists threats against America. As reported by The Associated Press, Kent plans to devote resources to targeting Latin American gangs and other criminal groups associated with migration.
Kent was deployed 11 times in his military career, worked for the CIA, then unsuccessfully ran twice for Congress in Washington state. A suicide bomber killed his first wife, who was a U.S. Navy cryptologist, in 2019 in Syria.
A counterterrorism director, according to Warner, “must be trusted to tell the truth and to uphold the core principles of the intelligence community: Objectivity, nonpartisanship and fidelity to fact.”
In a Senate floor speech, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said Kent “has dedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe.”
Related stories:
Classified or not classified? Senate Intelligence Committee discusses ‘Signalgate’
DNI Gabbard top adviser Joe Kent directed rewriting of American intelligence
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Rebecca Barnabi
