Trump seeks to rename Department of Defense to Department of War
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The Department of Defense logo is seen ahead of a press conference in Washington D.C. in October 2023. Photo: Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
President Trump will rename the Defense Department the Department of War, Fox News first reported and the White House confirmed Thursday.
Why it matters: The Trump administration has focused on restoring a "warrior ethos" to the military under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
- "As Department of War, we won everything. We won everything," Trump said last month. "I think we're going to have to go back to that."
- Hegseth recently renamed his Pentagon conference room the "W.A.R. Room."
Driving the news: Trump will sign an executive order on Friday to restore the historic name "Department of War" as a secondary title for the Department of Defense, according to a White House official.
- The order will also authorize Hegseth and subordinate officials within the executive branch to use secondary titles such as "Secretary of War," and "Deputy Secretary of War" in official correspondence and in other communications.
Reality check: Renaming the department would require an act of Congress, but the White House was considering other avenues to make the change.
Zoom in: The order will instruct Hegseth to recommend legislative and executive actions required to permanently rename the Defense Department the U.S. Department of War, according to the White House official.
- The name change would convey a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to "Department of Defense," which highlights only defensive capabilities, and it'll sharpen the department's focus on national interest and signify to adversaries that it's prepared to wage war to secure interests, per the official.
What they're saying: Hegseth reposted Fox News' X post on its report, with the comment: "DEPARTMENT OF WAR."
Flashback: Congress established the War Department in 1789 as a Cabinet-level position to oversee the Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
- In 1947, the Navy and War Departments were merged into the National Military Establishment. The U.S. Air Force was formally established later that year.
- In 1949, the National Military Establishment became the Department of Defense. The Cabinet-level Army, Navy and Air Force secretaries were replaced by the new secretary of defense.
Go deeper: The Pentagon's dramatic divorce from D.C. orthodoxy
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more details on the order.
Rebecca Falconer contributed reporting.
