At the Pentagon on Thursday, facilities personnel were joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to remove a bronze plaque at the building's main entrance facing the Potomac River and replace it with a recently minted one bearing a new name: "Department of War."
The ceremonial change comes in response to an executive order President Donald Trump signed in September, allowing the department to use it as a secondary moniker in certain capacities, the name the department used until 1947.
And while only an act of Congress can officially change the name from the Department of Defense to the Department of War, the cost of enacting Trump's order could raise as high as $2 billion, NBC News reported this week.
The cost comes from actions like Hegseth undertook this week: replacing thousands of signs, placards, letterheads, badges, and any other item at U.S. military installations around the world that featured the Defense Department's name, NBC News said, citing two senior Republican congressional staffers, two senior Democratic congressional staffers, and two other people briefed on the potential cost.
At the Pentagon, the new bronze plaques (a second was placed at the Mall Entrance, which faces north toward the National Mall) are roughly 30 by 20 inches and weigh about 60 pounds.
"We wanted to replace [the old signs] because we want everybody who comes through this door to know that we are deadly serious about the name change of this organization," Hegseth said this week.
"We love everything that the Department of Defense represented," the Defense Secretary added. "But this is a new era of the Department of War that is focused on winning wars ... and making sure that we know exactly what the mission is and that the troops are sent there to succeed and win."
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in an emailed statement to NBC News the final estimation on the cost of implimenting the change had not yet been determined, blaming the recent government shutdown.
“The Department of War is aggressively implementing the name change directed by President Trump, and is making the name permanent,” Parnell's statement read. “A final cost estimate has not been determined at this time due to the Democrat [sic] shutdown furloughing many of our critical civilians. A nod to our proud heritage, this change is essential because it reflects the Department’s core mission: winning wars. This has always been our mission, and while we hope for peace, we will prepare for war.”
During a Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery, Trump said the name change is about "restoring the pride and the winning spirit of the United States military.
"We won the First World War. We won the Second World War. We won everything before that and in between. And then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defense," Trump said in September. "So we're going Department of War."
Hegseth echoed the president, saying the name reflects waht he sees as a new ethos for the department.
"We are rebuilding it; we are reestablishing deterrence — it's based on America first, peace through strength and common sense," he said. "And now everybody that enters this building, whether it's generals or civilians or foreign leaders, is going to see: this is not just on paper. This is not just a title. This is exactly who we are."