The President of the United States of America,
Donald Trump, picked Joe Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). Kent, who was the Republican nominee, previously ran for US Congress from Washington's 3rd Congressional District but lost to Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in 2022 and 2024.
Kent was married to Shannon M Kent, for almost five years, till she died in 2019.
Here’s all you need to know about the late Shannon Kent.
Shannon Kent:
Shannon Mary Kent (born in 1983) was a United States Navy cryptologic technician and member of JSOC's Intelligence Support Activity.
A New York native (born in Oswego) Shannon Smith was born to her father, Col. Stephen Smith, who was the third-ranked police officer in the New York State Police. Her mother was an elementary school teacher.
Shannon grew up in Pine Plains, New York, and attended Stissing Mountain J/S High School, where she was an honors student and an athlete, graduating in 2001.
In 2003, Shannon enlisted in the Navy and graduated from boot camp at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois, in February 2004. She was assigned to Navy Information Operations Command, Navy Special Warfare Support Activity 2, Personnel Resource Development Office, Navy Information Operations Command Maryland, and Cryptologic Warfare Group 6, Fort Meade.
Shannon was the noncommissioned officer in charge at the National Security Agency’s operations directorate for four years and reported to Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66 (CWA-66) at Fort Meade after the command was established in 2008.
Shannon was quite good at her job and was considered a ‘rock star’ among the linguists. She was fluent in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Arabic, and rose quickly through the ranks as a cryptologist at Fort Meade.
In 2007, Shannon volunteered for an Individual Augment and was deployed to Iraq on an intelligence team supporting Navy SEALs. In 2008, she underwent training for a permanent position on a SEAL support team, and she was deployed to Afghanistan to support a SEAL team in 2012.
In February 2018, Shannon received clearance to attend the Navy's doctorate psychology program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. However, the Navy reversed the move because her previous cancer diagnosis made her medically unfit to be commissioned as an officer. She applied for a waiver and sought congressional help, but the Navy maintained its decision. Shannon was deployed to Syria in November 2018.
In January 2019, Shannon was part of a group that attended a meeting with local military officials and stopped at a local restaurant frequented by U.S. personnel, the Palace of the Princes in Manbij, Syria, when a man wearing a suicide vest walked outside and detonated his device. The area was in a northern Syria buffer zone between Kurdish fighters and Turkish forces that had been regarded as a stable area.
Shannon was killed along with three other Americans who were in Syria as part of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve. She was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
Shannon was the first female combat death in Syria since combat operations began against ISIS in Syria, and the first female U.S. service member killed by enemy fire in more than three years.
Shannon was truly a decorated veteran and received several awards which included U.S. President Donald Trump paying tribute to her and the three other fallen Americans during a trip to Dover Air Force Base on 19 January, where their remains were received.
Kent was posthumously promoted to senior chief petty officer and awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and Combat Action Ribbon.
The Navy credited Kent for work done for the NSA's Operations Directorate in Special Operations. Her name was also added to the Cryptologic Memorial Wall at the NSA's headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.
Personal life:
Shannon met Kent at the selection course for the Intelligence Support Activity. The couple married in 2014 and lived in Crownsville, Maryland. The couple had two children, who were aged 3 years and 18 months at the time of Shannon’s death.
Shannon was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2006 and was successfully treated surgically.
Who is Joe Kent?
Kent (born in 1980) is an American far-right political candidate and former special operations operative of the U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency. After defeating incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler in the primary, Kent was the Republican nominee in the 2022 election for Washington's 3rd congressional district, losing in an upset to Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. and promoted various conspiracy theories, including the claim that the COVID-19 vaccines are "experimental gene therapy".
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