President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order on Friday, aiming to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War. This move aligns with his ongoing efforts to present a robust image of the U.S. military.
To officially rename the department, the President would need legislative approval, which his administration plans to seek from Congress. Meanwhile, Trump will allow the use of “secondary titles,” enabling the department to adopt its historical name.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
A White House official, speaking anonymously before the announcement, shared these details along with information from a White House fact sheet.
The Department of War originated in 1789 alongside the implementation of the U.S. Constitution, with its title being altered to the Department of Defense in 1947, following World War II.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted “DEPARTMENT OF WAR” on social media after the executive order was initially reported by Fox News.
Trump and Hegseth have long talked about changing the name, and Hegseth even created a social media poll on the topic in March.
In recent events, including a speech at Fort Benning, Georgia, Trump has hinted at a potential change in the defense secretary’s title, suggesting it could be altered soon.
Back in August, Trump remarked to reporters on the nation’s historic victories under the Department of War, contrasting it with the current designation, the Department of Defense.
When confronted with the possibility that making the name change would require an act of Congress, Trump told reporters that “we’re just going to do it.”
“I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that,” he added.
The move is just the latest in a long line of cultural changes Hegseth has made to the Pentagon since taking office at the beginning of the year.
Early in his tenure, Hegseth pushed hard to eliminate what he saw as the impacts of “woke culture” on the military by not only ridding the department of diversity programs but scrubbing libraries and websites of material deemed to be divisive.
The result was the removal and review of hundreds of books in the military academies, which ended up including titles on the Holocaust and a Maya Angelou memoir. It also resulted in the removal off thousands of websites honoring contributions by women and minority groups.
“I think the president and the secretary have been very clear on this – that anybody that says in the Department of Defense that diversity is our strength is, is frankly, incorrect,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters in March.
Hegseth has also presided over the removal of all transgender troops from the military following an executive order from Trump through a process that some have described as “dehumanizing” or “open cruelty.”
Copyright © 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
