Department of Defense to become Department of War

The White House is moving ahead with a proposal to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War, following President Donald Trump’s suggestion to restore the name last used in 1947.

“As Department of War, we won everything. We won everything,” Trump said last week, referring to US military victories prior to the modern department’s creation. “I think we’re going to have to go back to that.” 

In an Oval Office meeting on Monday, Trump said the old name has a “stronger sound” and indicated the change would be made “over the next week or so.”

While a formal renaming would typically require an act of Congress, the White House is considering alternative methods to implement the change, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon began drafting legislative proposals on the matter early in Trump’s second term. One possible approach would be to seek congressional authority to restore the name during a national emergency, which would also revive the title of Secretary of War for current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Department of War was established in 1789 to oversee the US Army, with the Navy managed under a separate department. After World War II, President Harry Truman pushed to unify the armed forces, leading to the creation of the National Military Establishment in 1947. That legislation merged the War Department, Navy Department, and the newly formed Air Force into a single organization. In 1949, Congress renamed the National Military Establishment the Department of Defense.

Trump’s opinion on the name change appears to be a branding preference primarily, and he has argued that the renaming occurred “when we became a little bit politically correct.” In a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Hegseth agreed with the president, saying the Department of Defense “just doesn’t sound right.”