MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump rebrands Defense as “Department of War”

A full name change requires Congressional approval

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defense as “Department of War,” reviving a usage in force until the late 1940s. The order allows for the new name to be used as a secondary title in official communications, although a permanent legal change requires congressional approval. The move has drawn criticism from members of both parties.

Trump argued that the name change was meant to signal strength and victory, asserting that the name “Department of Defense” was “too defensive... And we want to be defensive, but we also want to be offensive if we have to be. So I just thought it was a better name.”

“I think it's a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now,” he added. “We should have won every war. We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct, or wokey, and we just fight forever.”

While the Trump administration claims the price of the change would not be high, some critics point out that a full rebrand could be a costly distraction from security priorities.

“We know how to rebrand without having to go crazy. We don't have to re-carve a mountain or anything. We're going to be doing it not in the most expensive - we're going to start changing the stationery as it comes to and lots of things like that,” the President also argued.

Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is now being referred to as the “Secretary of War,” said the change was about restoring a “warrior ethos.” The order directs him to recommend legislative and executive actions to make the name permanent.

The Department of War was established in 1789 by George Washington and was renamed the Department of Defense in 1947 by President Harry Truman, two years after the end of World War II. The Department of Defense consolidated the Department of War, the Department of the Navy, and the newly created Air Force. Congress created the civilian-led Department of Defense two years later via an amendment to the National Security Act.