President Trump signs order to return Defense Department to “Department of War”
A new sign hangs at the Pentagon after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War in Washington, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Pesoli)
President Trump has signed an executive order yesterday aimed at returning the name of the U.S. Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Trump said the switch is intended to signal to the world that the United States was a force to be reckoned with, saying the Department of Defense’s name was “woke.”
“I think it sends a message of victory. I think it sends, really, a message of strength,” Trump said of the change as he authorized the Department of War as a secondary title for the Pentagon.
Congress has to formally authorize a new name, and several of the president’s closest supporters on Capitol Hill proposed legislation earlier yesterday to codify the new name into law.
But already there were cosmetic shifts. The Pentagon’s website went from “defense.gov” to “war.gov.” Signs were swapped around Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office while more than a dozen employees watched. Trump said there would be new stationery, too.
Hegseth, whom Trump has begun referring to as the “secretary of war,” said during the signing ceremony that “we’re going to go on offense, not just on defense,” using “maximum lethality” that won’t be “politically correct.”
The president said his tough talk doesn’t contradict his diplomatic efforts, saying peace must be made from a position of strength. Trump has claimed credit for resolving conflicts between India and Pakistan; Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Armenia and Azerbaijan, among others. He’s also expressed frustration that he hasn’t brought the war between Russia and Ukraine to a conclusion as fast as he wants.
“I think I’ve gotten peace because of the fact that we’re strong,” Trump said, echoing the “peace through strength” motto associated with President Ronald Reagan
Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube proposed legislation in the House to formally change the name of the department.
“From 1789 until the end of World War II, the United States military fought under the banner of the Department of War,” Steube, an Army veteran, said in a statement. “It is only fitting that we pay tribute to their eternal example and renowned commitment to lethality by restoring the name of the ‘Department of War’ to our Armed Forces.”
Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, are introducing companion legislation in the Senate.
The Department of War was created in 1789, then renamed and reorganized through legislation signed by President Harry Truman in 1947, two years after the end of World War II. The Department of Defense incorporated the Department of War, which oversaw the Army, plus the Department of the Navy and the newly created independent Air Force.
(Copyright 2025 The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
