Title

Diya Ravi

September 5, 2025

In the late 1940s, President Harry Truman reorganized the U.S. military and created the Department of Defense. A new announcement has not been getting a lot of attention because President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order to begin renaming the Department of Defense into the “Department of War”. 

In late August, during a press event held in the Oval Office was the first incident of Trump hinting at the change occurred. He told reporters, “We call it the Department of Defense, 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.”

During a visit to Fort Benning in Georgia, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a strong supporter of the move, also hinted at the annoucementDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “Words matter. Titles matter. Cultures matter. And George Washington founded the War Department. We’ll see,” he said when asked about the possible name change.

According to a fact sheet obtained by CNN, Trump’s executive order will allow Pentagon officials to use secondary titles like “Secretary of War” or “Deputy Secretary of War” in official correspondence, ceremonies, and public communications. The order will also tell other government agencies to respect those secondary titles when addressing the Department of Defense. In addition, Hegseth will be asked to propose further steps, including new laws, to make the name change permanent.

The Department of War was first created by President George Washington in 1789 to manage the Army. Over time, as the U.S. military grew, other branches were added — like the Navy and later the Air Force. In 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, which merged the military branches under the new position of Secretary of Defense. In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense, the title it still has today.

Changing the Pentagon’s name has been controversial because in the past, only Congress could make such changes. For example, when Truman changed the department’s name in 1949, it took an act of Congress to do it. Reporters have already asked the White House how Trump plans to carry out the change without Congress.

The move also comes as Secretary Hegseth has pushed other symbolic changes within the military. Earlier this year, he reversed a Biden-era decision that had removed Confederate names from bases like Fort Bragg and Fort Hood. While he kept the names, he officially rededicated them to different people who happened to share those last names. In June, Hegseth also ordered a Navy oiler ship to be renamed after it had previously honored Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and Navy veteran.

Supporters of the name change argue that “Department of War” better reflects the reality of what the military does. Critics say the old name sounds too aggressive and could send the wrong message internationally. Either way, the order marks the first step in a process that could reshape one of the most well-known parts of the U.S. government.