President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday directing the Department of Defense to adopt “Department of War” as a secondary title, restoring a name the agency last held in 1947 in what he described as a move to project American military strength.
The order, Trump’s 200th since taking office, authorizes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and subordinate officials to use secondary titles such as “Secretary of War,” “Department of War,” and “Deputy Secretary of War” in official correspondence, public communications, and ceremonial contexts, according to a White House press statement.
The executive order does not permanently rename the department, which requires congressional approval. Instead, it establishes secondary titles while the administration seeks legislative action for a permanent change. The order directs all executive agencies and departments to “recognize and accommodate these secondary titles in internal and external communications,” according to the White House fact sheet.
The press release states that “the name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities.” It adds that “restoring the name ‘Department of War’ will sharpen the focus of this department on our national interests and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to secure its interests.”
Hegseth endorsed the symbolic change during the ceremony. “We changed the name after World War II from the Department of War to the Department of Defense and we haven’t won a major war since,” he stated, according tothe Department of War Statement.
“And that’s not to disparage our warfighters… That’s to recognize that this name change is not just about renaming, it’s about restoring; words matter,” Hegseth continued.
The secretary emphasized that the renamed department would pursue decisive military action, stating it would focus on “maximum lethality, not tepid legality; violent effect, not politically correct.”
The Pentagon’s website was updated during Trump’s announcement, with the URL changing to www.war.gov and the site now identifying itself as the U.S. Department of War.
Congress originally established the War Department on August 7, 1789, replacing the Board of War and Ordnance created during the Revolutionary War. President George Washington appointed retired Army General Henry Knox as the first Secretary of War.
The department maintained its designation for over 150 years until Congress passed the 1947 National Security Act, which merged the War Department with the Department of the Navy and the newly created Department of the Air Force to form the National Military Establishment, later renamed the Department of Defense.
Congressional action remains necessary to make the name change permanent, as the Constitution grants lawmakers authority to establish, modify, and rename federal departments. Some Trump supporters in Congress have proposed legislation to codify the new designation.
The order also instructs Hegseth to recommend legislative and executive actions required for permanent renaming, according to the White House fact sheet.
