FBI investigates senior intelligence official suspected of leaking classified information

Joe Kent, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center and an associate of Donald Trump, is under FBI investigation on suspicion of leaking classified information, according to various reports from Thursday night in the United States.

According to sources in the United States, the investigation was launched several months ago, even before Kent announced his resignation this week, which was carried out in protest against the war in Iran. The main suspicion is that he passed on sensitive information not in accordance with protocols.

Sources familiar with the details indicated that this is an ongoing investigation and that the very existence of the investigation has made his resignation particularly sensitive in the political arena. At this stage, the American authorities have not released further details, and the investigation is ongoing.

At the same time, sources close to Trump criticized Kent and even accused him of leaking information immediately after the announcement of his resignation.

Kent announced his resignation at the beginning of the week, citing his reasoning was  due to the US-Israeli war with Iran. According to Kent, Iran 'did not pose an immediate threat to the United States, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.'

In his letter, Kent said that he supported Trump’s values and foreign policy over the past decade. "In your first term, you understood better than any modern president how to wield military power decisively without getting dragged into endless wars. You demonstrated this by the elimination of Qassem Soleimani and the defeat of ISIS," it said.

However, according to the head of the National Center for Counterterrorism, during Trump's current term, "at the beginning of this administration, senior Israeli officials and influential friends in the American media launched a disinformation campaign that completely undermined your 'America First' platform — and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage war with Iran."

Kant accused that this "echo chamber" was used to deceive Trump into believing that Iran poses an immediate threat to Americans, saying it was "a tactic used by the Israelis to draw us into the destructive Iraq war, which cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best sons and daughters."

"As a battle veteran who has been deployed to fight 11 times and as a 'Gold Star' recipient (a war widower) who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost in American lives," he added.