President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War on Friday, arguing it broadcasts strength.
“This is something we thought long and hard about. We’ve been talking about it for months,” Trump said Friday from the Oval Office. “I think it’s a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now.”
Renaming an agency requires an act of Congress. But the administration made clear its desire to make a push for that. Speaking alongside the president and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose title would also change, said the name change is more than symbolic.