On March 19, the Council on Foreign Relations hosted the London-born Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism Sebastian Gorka to run a personal attack against Joseph Kent, who resigned as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, stating publicly: “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.…” Kent highlighted President Donald Trump’s record against such foreign wars, cited external pressure upon him, and called upon him to reverse his present course. The CFR brought in one such individual who displayed both imperial outrage and ridiculous pettiness over Kent’s action.
In the one-hour interview, Gorka accused Kent of being a “man without honor” and an “utter disgrace.” Gorka said that Kent mentioned his deceased wife in the letter in order to gain political leverage, and complained that Kent used official stationery to make his official resignation. (A terrorist bombing in Syria had killed his wife, and Kent alleged that the present actions against Iran would only create many more terrorists to kill American soldiers.)
However, after all the name-calling, Gorka made no effort to disprove any of the charges that Kent made in his resignation letter—that Iran was not an imminent threat, or that President Trump was manipulated by Israel and its lobbyists into starting the war, violating Trump’s own “America First” campaign pledge. Gorka said that Kent did not act upon principles, but was most likely unaware of the immediate danger facing the country, which only President Trump and his inner circle could fully understand. Gorka argued that Kent was “not in the room” when the decision was made to start the war. Despite Kent’s years of experience in intelligence and his role as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Gorka said that only the Cabinet members were allowed to attend that meeting, and only they had access to the latest and most accurate information. The remainder of the interview consisted of Gorka detailing the “historic level of success in everything that this administration has done.”
