By Senator Rick Scott
President-elect Donald Trump chose Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense because he’s a combat veteran and change agent who isn’t afraid to take on the vital job of rebuilding the U.S. military from woke to lethal. He is the right person for the job, and I fully support him as our next secretary of defense.
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an enlisted Navy veteran, I’ve seen clearly that we need a leader in the Pentagon who puts America’s national interests above all else.
I’ve seen how the Biden-Harris administration pushed the DOD to prioritize wokeness over being the most lethal military force.
They prioritized diversity quotas and bureaucracy over recruiting strong individuals ready to serve and protect our nation.
The Biden-Harris administration put our national security and the safety of our troops at risk, and we need someone who understands the mission and is ready to deliver.
The status quo in Washington, D.C., has gone unchallenged for too long. The Pentagon, which failed seven consecutive annual financial audits, is the best example of a government that’s completely unaccountable to the American taxpayer.
Hegseth is the fighter we need and the right person to get the DOD back on track. He’s a decorated combat veteran who knows what it’s like to put on the uniform and risk his life in defense of our freedoms.
He knows what it means to send troops into battle and make life-or-death decisions, and he won’t take that responsibility lightly. He’s been to war, led his fellow service members in combat, and known individuals injured or killed defending our nation.
After his active duty service, Hegseth continued to stand by his fellow service members here at home by leading Concerned Veterans of America, demonstrating a commitment to our nation’s fighters rather than to the status quo.
While the left-wing media has fixated on anonymous sources attempting to discredit and dismiss his achievements during his time at CVA, those who worked closely with him tell a different story. The policy priorities he championed were ultimately adopted by both Congress and the Trump administration and will benefit veterans for generations to come.
Under Hegseth’s leadership from 2013–2016, CVA became a prominent veterans advocacy group focused on listening to the practical challenges facing our returning warriors. The organization he built made thousands of citizen contacts through door-knocking, phone banks, and direct outreach to Congress. This wasn’t just activism for activism’s sake. It was focused advocacy that delivered results for our veterans.
In 2014, whistleblowers at the Department of Veterans Affairs revealed that veterans were dying on secret waitlists maintained for the benefit of bureaucrats rather than those who sacrificed for this country, revealing the true cost of “business-as-usual” bureaucracy in Washington.
I was governor of Florida at the time and fought to allow the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to inspect VA hospitals and ensure our veterans were taken care of while the federal government refused to provide us answers for this obvious failure. I’m glad we had CVA and Hegseth fighting alongside us for change and leading public demands for consequences that played an essential role in aiding the 120,000-plus veterans who were stuck on waitlists or denied essential medical care.
Rather than merely criticizing agency failures, CVA developed concrete solutions. They pushed for giving veterans access to private healthcare through VA-sponsored insurance, which dramatically reduced the overwhelming patient load at the VA while giving veterans more choice in their medical care.
Combined with major victories under the Trump administration, the organization spearheaded essential reforms that improved how we care for veterans and their families.
The DOD, like the VA, is one of the federal government’s largest bureaucracies. That requires a leader who understands how to drive grassroots, rely on a team, push for accountability, and bring needed reform.
Americans elected Trump on a mandate for change, and he’s building a team ready to deliver — and Hegseth is the right man for the job at the DoD.
Under their strong leadership, the U.S. military will once again become the world’s most lethal fighting force that our enemies fear and our allies respect, and I’ll do everything I can to support their mission.
Republican Rick Scott represents Florida in the United States Senate, is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Service, and is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Personnel. He is the former governor of Florida.
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