President Donald Trump is signaling that his administration may scrap the modern label “Department of Defense” and restore the Pentagon’s original name: the Department of War.
Speaking in the Oval Office on August 25 alongside South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, Trump argued the current title fails to capture the military’s true purpose. “I don’t want to be defense only,” he said. “We want offense too.” He tied the name “Department of War” to America’s greatest victories, noting, “When we won World War I, World War II, it was called the Department of War. And to me, that’s really what it is.”
The president even suggested the change could come within a week, wrote Politico, though legal scholars point out that Congress would likely need to act. The Defense Department was formally established in 1947 under Harry Truman, who folded the Army, Navy, and newly created Air Force into a single department. Trump has dismissed that postwar shift as a concession to “political correctness,” pointing out that the words “War Department” remain etched on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, long an advocate for restoring what he calls the military’s “warrior ethos,” has amplified Trump’s case. In March, he staged an informal poll on Twitter, where a majority of respondents favored bringing back the older name. At a NATO summit in June, Trump referred to Hegseth as his “Secretary of War,” a rhetorical test-run of the rebrand.
Better name?
Have my thoughts…welcome yours. #PeoplesPentagon
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) March 22, 2025
The White House reinforced the president’s remarks Monday. Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said Trump’s focus is on “war fighters” rather than “DEI and woke ideology,” adding: “Stay tuned!”
The proposal fits within Trump’s broader push to reshape the identity of federal agencies, even as he touts his success in brokering ceasefires in hotspots from South Asia to the Caucasus.
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