US President Donald Trump is planning to sign an executive order on Friday that will rechristen the Department of Defence as the Department of War, as reported by US media, quoting White House officials.
The order, cast as an attempt to "restore historical clarity," aims to highlight an offensive, combat-oriented identity for America's military and encourage what the administration describes as a "warrior mindset."
A White House fact sheet on the upcoming order has supposedly emphasized this reasoning, adding that the reform would demonstrate an ethos of combat-first for the military.
Trump, previewing the move last month, told reporters: "We call it the Department of Defence, but between us, I think we're gonna change the name. We won World War I, World War II -- it was called the Department of War, and to me, that's really what it is."
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth supported the initiative, saying in a recent interview: "We won WWI and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defence, but with a War Department... We're not just defence, we're offence. We're re-establishing the warrior ethos."
The executive order will instruct Hegseth to take action for legislative ratification to make the change permanent, while at the same time implementing overhauls to Pentagon signage and online platforms. On Thursday, Hegseth amplified reports of the action by reposting a Fox News update on X with the following caption: "DEPARTMENT OF WAR."
The Department of War initially existed from 1789 to oversee US warfare. It kept that name until 1947, when President Harry Truman's National Security Act reorganized the armed forces and created the Air Force as a distinct service and unified it with the Army and Navy. Congress formally renamed it the Department of Defence in 1949, a Cold War focus on deterrence and security instead of offensive operations alone.
The proposed rebranding is part of Trump's larger military reform program in his second term. Still, an entire legal transition would involve Congressional authorization.
The Pentagon's proposed name change follows a number of similar moves during Hegseth's tenure. Among them: the undoing of Biden-era base name changes, reverting names like Fort Bragg and Fort Hood, but to other historical figures with the same names. Last spring, Hegseth also directed a Navy oiler vessel named after gay rights activist and veteran Harvey Milk to be renamed.
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