Trump to Rename Defense Department to Department of War
In a bold move, President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order on Friday that will change the name of the Defense Department to the Department of War, a White House official exclusively revealed to CNN.
This decision comes after both the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hinted at the change in recent days, with Trump hinting at the alteration in the Oval Office last week, stating that his administration was planning to “change the name.”
Trump further expressed his intentions, saying, “We won the World War 1, World War 2 — it was called the Department of War, and to me, that’s really what it is. Defense is a part of that, but I have a feeling we’re gonna be changing.”
The breaking news about Friday’s order was initially reported by Fox News.
During a visit to Fort Benning on Thursday, Hegseth hinted at the impending name change, stating, “I would say standby tomorrow. It’s something that — words matter. Titles matter. Cultures matter. And George Washington founded the War Department. We’ll see.”
It is worth noting that the last time the department’s name was changed, it required an act of Congress. CNN has reached out to the White House for details on how the name would be changed this time around.
The Department of War, as it was once known, was originally established by President George Washington when he founded the country’s Army. However, the name was later altered in 1949 as part of a broader military reorganization under President Harry Truman.
Truman signed the National Security Act in 1947, which led to the consolidation of the Department of the Navy, the newly created Department of the Air Force, and the Department of the Army — previously known as the Department of War — into a single entity called the National Military Establishment, under the civilian secretary of defense. The National Military Establishment was eventually renamed the Department of Defense in August 1949.
The National Security Act also gave birth to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an advisory organization for military planning and strategy.
This move to rename the Pentagon follows several similar actions by Hegseth to rename bases and ships. He recently reversed a decision made during the Biden administration to remove Confederate-era names from bases like Fort Bragg and Fort Hood, opting to reinstate those titles but officially naming them after different individuals with the same names.
In June, Hegseth also mandated the renaming of an oiler ship that was originally named after gay rights activist and Navy veteran Harvey Milk. — CNN
