What to Know About Joe Kent's Late Wife Shannon and Current Wife Heather

Joe Kent, who resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, was married to the late Shannon Kent and wed Heather Kaiser Kent in 2023

NEED TO KNOW

• Joe Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center over opposition to the U.S. waging war in Iran
• The veteran cited his late wife Shannon Kent’s 2019 death in Syria as a reason for his resignation
• Joe and Shannon married in 2014, and he later married another veteran, Heather Kaiser Kent, in 2023

Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, cited his "beloved" late wife, Shannon Kent, as one of the reasons he was resigning from his position in March 2026.

Joe was working as an Army special forces officer when he met Shannon, who was a Navy linguist and intelligence officer. They married in 2014 and welcomed their first son, Colt, in 2015. They later added son Josh to the family in 2017.

Shannon was deployed for the first time since having kids in 2018. On Jan. 16, 2019, Shannon was killed by a suicide bomber in Manbij, Syria. The family have continued to honor Shannon by visiting her grave at Arlington National Cemetery.

About one year after Shannon died, Joe met artist Heather Kaiser, and they married in August 2023.

Here's what to know about Joe Kent's late wife, Shannon Kent, and current wife, Heather Kaiser Kent.

Joe married Shannon in 2014, and they had two children

Joe and Shannon met after they had both spent years serving in their respective divisions of the military. Shannon enlisted in the Navy in 2003, per the Foundation for Women Warriors, while Joe enlisted in the Army around 1997.

Although they specialized in different sectors, they crossed paths for the first time briefly in 2007. Joe recalled in a August 2024 episode of the Shawn Ryan Show that they met "for 10 minutes in 2007" in Baghdad at a center "where all the different intelligence agencies are." They talked for a few minutes but didn't initially develop a connection.

"The war moved fast, and she moved on to a different location,” he explained. “And I didn’t see her again for several years.”

They were reunited in 2013 when both Joe and Shannon were selected for a Special Missions course. A mutual friend set them up, and they started dating shortly after.

"From that moment on, we were pretty much inseparable," he said. "I think we fell in love pretty quick."

Joe and Shannon married on Dec. 24, 2014, after they finished the course together. Upon returning home to Maryland, Shannon earned her bachelor's degree while pregnant with their first child.

They welcomed son Colt in 2015 and son Josh in 2017.

Shannon was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019

While Shannon and Joe were raising their young children, she wanted to get her Ph.D. in psychology with the intention of helping fellow veterans with PTSD, per the Foundation for Women's Warriors.

However, before she could enroll, she was deployed to Syria in November 2018 to work with the National Security Agency to locate and target the top leaders of the Islamic State, The New York Times reported at the time.

"She was still working at the N.S.A., so she was still doing pretty vital stuff for the country,” Joe said on the Shawn Ryan Show. "But she was the one staying at home up until her final deployment."

On Jan. 16, 2019, Shannon was at a restaurant in Manbij, Syria, when a suicide bomber killed her and 18 other people. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack.

After her death, Shannon was promoted to senior chief petty officer and awarded several recognitions — including the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Joe frequently shares pictures of him, Colt and Josh honoring Shannon's life by visiting her grave at Arlington National Cemetery. He also commemorates their wedding anniversary and the anniversary of her death on Instagram every year.

"I’m grateful for every moment we had & for the lives we created," Joe captioned a selfie with himself, Shannon and their boys in January 2026. "Shannon was an amazing wife, mother, friend, sister & daughter."

Joe married Heather Kaiser in 2023

Joe remarried to Heather on Aug. 31, 2023. He shared the news by posting a photo of him and Heather at the intimate ceremony with Colt and Josh.

"Yesterday before God, our families & our church Heather & I got married!" he captioned the photo on Sept. 1. "Heather came into our lives a year after we lost Shannon & lifted us from that dark period as my partner & a mother to our sons. We love you Heather! Yes, Joshy rocked the ukulele for the ceremony!"

Like her husband, Heather is also a veteran who worked in the army for 11 years until her 2018 retirement. She then pursued photography and ceramics before focusing on visual arts, which she currently does, per her website.

Joe frequently shares pictures of Heather spending time with his sons.

Joe cited Shannon's death as a reason he resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center

On March 17, 2026, Joe announced that he was resigning as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in response to the United States and Israel waging war in Iran and the Middle East.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent wrote in his resignation letter that was addressed to President Donald Trump. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

In the letter, Joe specifically mentioned Shannon's murder as one of the main reasons he needed to step down.

"As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives," he wrote.

While some legislators criticized Kent's resignation and his mention of Israel, others commended him for taking a stand against Trump.

Joe, who met Trump for the first time when he greeted the families who lost loved ones in the 2019 suicide attack, was nominated by the president to be the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in February 2025 and was confirmed by the senate in July 2026.

During his senate hearing, some Democrats criticized him for spreading conspiracy theories and his associations with white supremacists and far-right groups.

Prior to his time as the director, he campaigned as a Republican for the House of Representatives in Washington's third congressional district in 2022 and 2024. Both times he succeeded in the primary but lost in the election.

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