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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   6576 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026

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In related news a counterterrorism functionary has resigned from the government in protest of the Iran war.

After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.

After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.

In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS. Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.

As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives. I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.

It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation. -- Joe Kent

(Formatting altered)

Is that an important role? I've certainly never heard of the guy before, and I'm not sure I've heard of the center either.

Were there any examples of similar defections from an administration during military events, or lack thereof, in the past?

I feel like it's worth noting that there have been 4 prominent apparent terrorism incidents in just the last few weeks with ties to the Iran war. I'm not sure whether to also read this as "I told them it'd potentially cause incidents" or "I'm unable to actually stop terrorism".

ETA: some of those might be "domestic" legally, but probably not under the eye of public scrutiny.

I really just can't figure out if this was an important post or a make work admin sinecure. Never heard of him before, never heard of the job before. Is this a nobody or near cabinet level? The name tells you nothing.

I really like Joe Kent. He's a WA republican, which is a dying breed. He lost two congressional races before being nominated and confirmed.

As for similar defections, I asked an AI and got back the name Andrew Miller, who also resigned over Israel.

I think it oversees literally all intelligence related to terrorism except for domestic threats: https://www.dni.gov/files/NCTC/documents/features_documents/NCTC-Primer_FINAL.pdf

NCTC serves as the primary organization in the USG for analyzing and integrating all intelligence possessed or acquired by the USG pertaining to terrorism and CT except intelligence pertaining exclusively to domestic terrorism. NCTC has a responsibility to inform its partners on all international terrorism issues, and unique authorities allow personnel to analyze intelligence collected both inside and outside the U.S.

If that’s so (?), this is the top dawg of American terror intelligence essentially saying that Israel and her agents in America got us into this war.

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