Washington [US], September 5 : US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Friday that will change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, a White House official told CNN.
According to CNN, Trump previewed the move in recent days along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on August 25, Trump said, "We call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we're gonna change the name."
"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 president said.
Fox News first reported details about the upcoming executive order. While at Fort Benning on Thursday, Hegseth also indicated the change was imminent. "I would say standby tomorrow," Hegseth said when asked about a potential change. "It's something that words matter. Titles matter. Cultures matter. And George Washington founded the War Department. We'll see."
CNN noted that the last time the Pentagon's name was changed, it required an act of Congress.
The Department of War was originally established by President George Washington when he created the Army. The name was later changed in 1949 during President Harry Truman's broader reorganisation of the military.
Truman signed the National Security Act in 1947, merging the Department of the Navy, the newly created Department of the Air Force, and the Department of the Army previously the Department of War into the National Military Establishment, led by a civilian secretary of defense. In August 1949, the establishment was renamed the Department of Defense, according to CNN.
The same act also created the Joint Chiefs of Staff as an advisory body to the president on military planning and strategy.
CNN further reported that the latest move comes as part of Hegseth's broader efforts to restore older military traditions. He has reversed Biden-era decisions to remove Confederate-era names from bases like Fort Bragg and Fort Hood, instead reinstating the names but officially attributing them to different individuals.
In June, Hegseth also ordered the renaming of a Navy oiler ship that had been named after gay rights activist and Navy veteran Harvey Milk.
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