Trump to rename Defense Department as Department of War

The US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defence, the Department of War.

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This rebrand, according to the administration, is to use a name that more accurately reflects the mission carried out by the men and women in uniform.

Politico reported that this change would likely require a congressional vote, but the White House is looking for other alternatives to avoid this.

The administration’s alternative to circumventing the Congress vote is an executive order, which the president is expected to sign later today.

“Restoring the name ‘Department of War’ will sharpen the focus of this Department on our national interest and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to secure its interests,” a document containing information about the rebrand read.

The administration had hinted at the change for weeks, with Mr Trump telling reporters during an Oval Office meeting last month that the renaming would come ‘very soon.’

At the commencement ceremony for new military officers at Fort Benning, Georgia, on Thursday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said his job title “may be a slightly different title tomorrow; we’ll see.”

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The move is also part of the Trump-led administration’s attempt to reform the post-World War II national security architecture established under President Harry Truman.

But implementation of this policy will likely cost billions of dollars, sharply reversing efforts to cut Pentagon spending and waste, as official name changes come with a hefty price tag.

The government would have to change the names of hundreds of Pentagon agencies, their stationery, emblems, plaques, and other signage at the Defence Department and bases around the world.

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On Thursday, Mr Hegseth, who already approved “warfighters” as part of the Pentagon’s identity, posted on X, “Department of War.”

The United States had a War Department from independence until 1947 when Mr Truman’s administration split the Army and Air Force into separate branches and merged them with the Navy to form a new agency.

The Congress, however, renamed it the Department of Defense in 1949.

Last month, Mr Trump said he believes Congress will go along with him.

“Defense is too defensive,” he said.

“And we want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive too if we have to be. So, it just sounded to me like a better name.”