President Donald Trump has already shaken things up this year by renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and now he’s planning to rename the Department of Defense. Well, he wants to switch it back to a name previously used – the Department of War.
According to Fox News Digital, Trump planned to sign an executive order renaming the military department to “Department of War” Friday. With the name change, current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will get the new title “Secretary of War,” said the report.
Trump previously complained about the Department of Defense title during an Aug. 25 meeting.
“Defense – why are we defense?” he said. “So, it used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound. And as you know, we won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything. Now we have a Department of Defense, we’re defenders.”
Per the Department of Defense website, its history goes all the way back to the Continental Congress’ creation of the Continental Army in 1775, during the Revolutionary War. In 1789, the War Department was established to oversee the Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
Then President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act more than 150 years later, in 1947, shortly after the end of World War II and before the start of the Korean War. That merged the Navy, Air Force and War Departments into the National Military Establishment, led by a civilian secretary of defense. The act also created the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the National Security Resources Board.
Two years later, the act was amended to rename the National Military Establishment to the Department of Defense. It also increased the responsibilities of the secretary of defense.
“If you people want to, standing behind me, if you take a little vote, if you want to change it back to what it was when we used to win wars all the time, that’s okay with me,” said Trump on Aug. 25 while standing in front of group that included Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Vice President JD Vance (himself a military veteran) and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Once the order is signed, changes will appear on public facing websites and office signage at the Pentagon, according to the Fox report. For example, the public affairs briefing room will be renamed the “Pentagon War Annex,” it said, citing to a White House official.
Fox News Digital said that Hegseth also wanted to change the department’s name. It noted that the change is “one of several initiatives the Trump administration has spearheaded as part of its ‘warrior ethos’ campaign within the Pentagon.”
In a Thursday Truth Social post, Trump indicated that companies are also using Make America Great Again-friendly terms.
“From a Delta Captain: ‘I thought you would get a kick out of this. Delta’s official memo to employees. Big changes Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. And the liberals thought Notice to Airman was racist to they changed it to Notice to Air Missions. Delta just changed it back to Notice to Airman. I think they are finally embracing MAGA,’” the president wrote.