On Tuesday, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, Ranking Member of Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Seth Magaziner, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence (NCTC), issued the following statement on the nomination of Joe Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
“Joe Kent has twice been rejected from public office by the people of southwest Washington because of his extremism,” said Thompson, (D-Miss.). “Someone who has employed a Proud Boy, affiliated with a far-right leader whose rallies led to violence in Portland, and given an interview to a Nazi sympathizer is unfit to lead the nation’s primary organization that processes terrorism and counterterrorism intelligence.”
Rep. Magaziner (D-Rhode Island) issued a similar statement
“Joe Kent is not fit to lead the National Counterterrorism Center,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner, (D-Rhode Island). “During his two failed campaigns for Congress, we learned that Kent has ties to white nationalists, has called to defund the FBI and ATF, supported January 6th rioters who attacked police officers, sought political support from a Holocaust denier, dog whistles to the racist far-right, and spreads conspiracy theories that undermine democracy.
“If that alone is not disqualifying,” Magaziner added, “hen the Senate must dig deeply into Joe Kent’s beliefs and associations to ensure the next Director of the National Counterterrorism Center is not an insider threat.”
Joe Kent, 45 is an former Republican political candidate and former special operations operative of the U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency. He came in second in the 2022 U.S. House of Representative election to choose a Congressman from Washington’s Third Congressional District and won that post in the 2024 election. President Donald Trump nominated Kent for Director of the National Counterterrorism Center on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is based in Liberty Crossing in McLean, Va. NCTC advises the United States on terrorism.
Part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the center brings together specialists from other federal agencies, including the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
Republican Members of the House Homeland Security Committee are: Chairman Mark Green (Tenn.), Michael McCaul, (Texas), Clay Higgins (La.), Michael Guest (Miss.), Carlos Gimenez (Fla.), August Pfluger, (Texas), Andrew Garbarino (NY), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Tony Gonzales (Texas), Morgan Luttrell (Texas), Dale Strong, (Ala.), Josh Brecheen (Okla.), Eli Crane, (Ariz.), Andy Ogles (Tenn.), Sheri Biggs (S.Carolina), Gabe Evans (Colo.), Ryan Mackenzie (Penn.), and Brad Knott (N.Carolina).
Democratic Members of the House Homeland Security Committee are: Bennie Thompson, (Miss.), Eric Swalwell (Calif.), Lou Correa (Calif.), Shri Thanedar (Mich.), Seth Magaziner (Rhode Island), Dan Goldman (N.Y.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Tim Kennedy (N.Y.), LaMonica McIver (N.J.), Julie Johnson (Texas), Pablo José Hernández (Puerto Rico), Nellie Pou, (N.J.), and Sylvester Turner (Texas)
