Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) allows that President Obama’s reported choice to lead the Defense Department has a “good reputation,” but the selection process has him worried that Ashton Carter may defer to Obama’s “political lackeys.”
“It says something that so many people are saying ‘no, thank you, I don’t want to serve as secretary of defense in an administration that overrides the Defense Department, that treats the secretary as subservient to political lackeys in the White House,’” Cruz said during a question-and-answer session at a foreign-policy event hosted by the Concerned Veterans for America and The Weekly Standard.
“It is my hope that Mr. Carter will not give in to that and I am certainly committed to looking to his record and fairly considering his views,” Cruz continued. “But, it is an unfortunate statement that we are already facing the fourth secretary of defense in six years. At a time when the threats are this grave, we shouldn’t see more turnover in a Defense Department than one has in a typical Burger King.”