President Donald Trump is planning to sign an executive order Friday renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War, a senior administration official told NOTUS.
The renaming of a federal agency would require an act of Congress, so Friday’s executive order will restore “Department of War” as a secondary title, and direct Secretary Pete Hegseth to pursue legislative avenues to make the name permanent.
“The United States military is the strongest and most lethal fighting force in the world, and the President believes this Department should have a name that reflects its unmatched power and readiness to protect national interests,” an internal White House fact sheet obtained by NOTUS said.
The U.S. had a Department of War until 1947, when the Truman administration split the Army and Air Force into separate military branches and joined them with the then-independent Navy to form a new agency, according to DOD’s website.
“The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities,” the fact sheet continues. “Restoring the name ‘Department of War’ will sharpen the focus of this Department on our national interest and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to secure its interests.”
Trump last week signaled interest in the name change, telling reporters his decision on the matter would be “coming soon.” He said the move was part of his ongoing effort to make the country’s defense system appear stronger.
“It just sounded bad to me, ‘On behalf of the Department of Defense.’ Defense? I don’t want to be defense only,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We want defense, but we want offense too, if that’s OK. As the Department of War, we won everything, and I think we’re going to have to go back to that.”