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troubling ties

Trump’s favored candidate for key intel role has ties to extremists 

Joe Kent, a hard-right unsuccessful congressional candidate, has emerged as a top contender to lead the National Counterterrorism Center

AP Photo/Jenny Kane

Washington 3rd District Republican candidate Joe Kent speaks during a debate at KATU studios on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Portland, Ore.

The potential nomination of a hard-right former congressional candidate with ties to extremists to lead a major counterterrorism organization in the incoming Trump administration is fueling concerns among some national security experts.

Joe Kent, a retired Green Beret and former CIA officer who twice ran unsuccessfully for a House seat in Washington State, has reportedly emerged as the top pick to head the National Counterterrorism Center.

But his past links to white supremacists and neo-Nazis, promotion of conspiracy theories and echoing of pro-Russia talking points, among other issues, have faced scrutiny — raising questions over his possible stewardship of one of the county’s top intelligence agencies.

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), an outspoken Republican critic of President-elect Donald Trump, recently compared Kent to Michael Flynn, a former Trump national security advisor and fierce election denier, casting him as a dangerous extremist who is unfit for the job.

“This guy is, I’m not going to say neo-Nazi, but as close as you can get to that without being labeled that is about what he is,” Kinzinger said during a podcast interview with The Bulwark’s Tim Miller released on Wednesday. “Every conspiracy theory he buys into.”

Kent, a MAGA loyalist who called his first House campaign in 2022 a “populist uprising against the establishment,” has frequently stirred controversy for indulging the extreme right. He hired a Proud Boys member as a campaign consultant and sought support from Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and leading white nationalist who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Kent distanced himself from Fuentes after their conversation came to light, saying he disagreed with his politics, “especially in regards to our ally Israel.”)

The former Army Special Forces officer, 44, also gave an interview to a Nazi sympathizer who has praised Hitler and appeared on a white nationalist YouTube channel — where he said that he did not “think there’s anything wrong with there being a white-people special interest group,” among other comments his critics interpreted as dog whistles to the racist far right.

Meanwhile, Kent has espoused conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and other topics, suggesting Secret Service agents were “in on” the assassination attempt against Trump last summer. Kent, who has called to defund the FBI, has also faced accusations of parroting pro-Kremlin talking points — as he has voiced skepticism of aiding Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“Given Kent’s ties with groups who supported the violent overturning of the 2020 election, he would seem like an unorthodox choice for a role countering terrorism on behalf of the American people,” Seth Kotlar, a professor of history at Willamette University in Oregon, told Jewish Insider on Thursday, “but this is hardly the first situation recently where the usual rules that have governed U.S. politics, regardless of party, have been disregarded by the incoming administration.”

Even as he has expressed support for Israel as it has battled Hamas and other Iran-backed proxy groups in the region, Kent, who has pushed an isolationist foreign policy vision, has otherwise argued in favor of scaling back U.S. involvement in the Middle East.

“Progressive and peaceful societies will not emerge from the Middle East owing to U.S. military and intelligence efforts,” he wrote in an article for the journal Comparative Strategy published in 2020. “If the region were to change, the change would be gradual and rely solely on the initiative of the people of the region to crush the radicalism that currently dominates them.”

Despite his appreciation for Israel as an ally that he has recalled sharing intelligence during his military service in the Middle East, Kent has been critical of the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC and said that candidates who accept its support cannot serve the needs of constituents.

“Taking money from a group lobbying on behalf of a foreign gov is a conflict of interest,” he said in a post to social media in 2022, during a primary against a GOP incumbent, former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), who received contributions from AIPAC. Herrera Beutler “owes a foreign country, not her constituents,” Kent wrote, invoking an antisemitic trope about Jewish control of U.S. politics. “AIPAC is a pro Israel lobby, I am pro Israel, they are a great ally, but taking their $ puts their interests ahead of ours.”

Still, Kent was in touch with AIPAC during the race and wrote a position paper on Israel that he shared with the group. 

Kent did not respond to a request for comment, nor did a spokesperson for the Trump transition team.

The National Counterterrorism Center was created after the Sept. 11 attacks to streamline intelligence sharing and operates under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Trump has picked former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) — a close ally of Kent who previously met with and defended ousted Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad — to lead the office, though her positions have privately faced criticism from GOP lawmakers ahead of what could be a contentious confirmation process.

Kent, who is not as widely known, would also require Senate confirmation if he is tapped for the counterterrorism position, which national security experts and Jewish groups regard as a crucial role.

The organization’s outgoing acting director, Brett Holmgren, has recently cautioned that the U.S. is “in a period where we are facing an elevated threat environment,” while saying that the government has “a lot more work to do when it comes to countering violent extremism at home” and “countering violent extremist propaganda abroad.”

Matthew Levitt, director of the counterterrorism program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, suggested Kent’s elevation to the role could undermine a national security organization that has traditionally remained nonpartisan. 

“NCTC has proven to be enormously effective as the U.S. government’s center of gravity and organizing manager of a broad range of departments and agencies which each hold a piece of the overall CT mission,” Levitt said in an email to JI on Thursday. “Keeping NCTC focused on its nonpartisan mission should be a priority for the incoming administration.”

George Selim, executive vice president of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement to JI that the National Counterterrorism Center “has played a vital role for the last two decades in protecting Americans from threats from overseas and within the United States.”

“Born out of the 9/11 Commission recommendations, it is key in protecting communities targeted by ideologically motivated violence,” Selim said. “It’s no secret that Jewish Americans are disproportionately victimized by hate-fueled attacks. It is imperative that any nominee demonstrates an unwavering commitment to protecting all communities, especially those facing elevated threats from terrorism.”

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