Sen. Ted Cruz slammed the White House on Tuesday for a "failure of leadership" as President Barack Obama prepares to nominate his administration's fourth defense secretary.

The Texas Republican, who is considering a 2016 run in hopes of heading his own White House administration, called the unusually high turnover at the helm of the Defense Department emblematic of a White House that puts politics above U.S. national security.

"It seems what the administration is looking for is a defense secretary who will follow the orders of a political White House rather than focus on defending the national security interests of this country," Cruz said. "At a time when the threats are this grave, we shouldn't see turnover at the Defense Department than one has at a typical Burger King."

Cruz said he did not know Ashton Carter, the former No. 2 man at the Pentagon who is expected to be Obama's nominee to succeed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, but Cruz said he looks forward to learning more about Carter and his "good reputation."

But Cruz emphasized he was unsettled to see several potential picks pull their names out of the running to head the department, including former Pentagon official Michele Flournoy and Sen. Jack Reed.

"It says something that so many people are saying, 'No, thank you, I don't want to serve in an administration that overrides the Defense Department, that treats the defense secretary as subservient to political lackeys in the White House," Cruz said.

Cruz made the remarks Tuesday at an event cosponsored by Concerned Veterans of America and the conservative publication The Weekly Standard during which he bore out his hawkish foreign policy and staked out positions starkly in contrast to Obama.

1. How many Secretaries of Defense has the President already nominated during this term?
1. three