President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Friday to restore the use of the historic title of the Department of War by the federal government as an alternative name for the Department of Defense.
The executive order will reportedly lead to name changes online and at the Pentagon itself, including the designation of the public affairs briefing room as the “Pentagon War Annex.” The president’s action also directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to seek ways to make the name change permanent. Such executive action had been contemplated by Trump in the past, and the president has noted that under the Defense Department’s original title, the United States won many battles and wars.
“Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense,” Trump told reporters in August.
The name change also echoes the spirit of warfighting that Hegseth has emphasized during his tenure.
“We won World War I, and we won World War II, not with the Department of Defense, but with the Department of War,” Hegseth told Fox News this week.
“The president has said, ‘We’re not just defense; we’re offense,” the defense chief added.
The Department of War name traces its origin back to the founding era of the United States. President George Washington signed legislation into law on Aug. 7, 1789, establishing the federal agency, which would help the president govern the U.S. Army, under the 1789 U.S. Constitution. The department’s head, the secretary of War, was one of the original members of Washington’s Cabinet.
The Department of War oversaw the U.S. Navy, as well as the U.S. Army, until the creation of the Department of the Navy in 1798.
The War Department existed until 1947. Following World War II, Congress extensively reorganized the military. It abolished the Department of War and created the National Military Establishment and then the Department of Defense to oversee all the individual military branch departments. It also created the position of secretary of defense, who was put in charge of overseeing the Defense Department.
The DoD name change could be reversed by Trump’s successors as president, since it will be enacted by an executive order, rather than by law. Some members of Congress, however, have already proposed legislation to codify the name change. Such a proposal would likely need bipartisan support in the Senate to overcome a possible Democrat filibuster.
“The U.S. military is the most lethal fighting force on the planet, & restoring the Department of War name reflects our true capabilities to win wars, not just respond to them. Thank you, @POTUS & @SecDef! Now, let’s pass @SenMikeLee, @RepGregSteube, & my bill to make this change the law of the land!” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., posted on the social media platform X on Thursday.
“A ‘War Department’ sounds like a dog on the president’s leash that can be let loose as needed to inflict violence on an enemy that is making war on the United States. His very presence makes such wars less likely,” Christian Whiton, a former senior adviser for strategic communications at the State Department, told The Daily Signal.