During an interview with Real America's Voice, Florida's Governor said he wanted a Defense Secretary who apparently has a sharp blade and a killer instinct, and who isn't wedded to extant hierarchy.
Ron DeSantis said Thursday that the person he picks to run the Pentagon would have to be prepared to "slit some throats" and be "very firm, very strong" in imposing their will.
"I think the idea that you take a flag or general officer who recently retired and put them as the Secretary of Defense, I think it is a mistake," DeSantis said, advocating for "professional distance from the General Officer Corps."
"You know, they may have to slit some throats and it's a lot harder to do that if these are people that you've trained with in the past or that, you know, so we're going to have somebody out there, you know, be very firm, very strong, but they are going to make sure that we have the best people in the best positions and there's not going to be necessarily prior relationships that would cloud that judgment," DeSantis contended.
DeSantis added that it's "just human nature that these are people that you knew, you're just going to treat them a little bit different."
The Governor made the comments to interviewer John Solomon on "Just the News." They continue a rhetorical commitment to hiring an outsider to run the Department of Defense that he's established previously in interviews.
"We want people who are going to be hard chargers. We want people who aren't going to deal with the political nonsense. Our military should be unique in society. It should not be a reflection of values at places like Goldman Sachs or civilian bureaucracies," DeSantis said during a Newsmax interview with Eric Bolling earlier this month.
DeSantis has rolled out a series of policy proposals to root the so-called "woke mind virus" out of the military. He has said he would target DEI, CRT, transgender troops, drag queens, and would use the "bully pulpit" to promote military service.