Trump proposes renaming the Department of Defense to the War Bureau
“We want to be offensive too,” President Trump suggests renaming the Department of Defense to the previous Department of War title.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed an executive order on September 5th, changing the Pentagon’s name to “The Department of War,” reviving a name that was abandoned during the 1947 cabinet reorganization.
The move, confirmed by White House officials, aims to reflect what Defense Secretary Pete Hegses described as an administration’s efforts to instill “warrior spirit” throughout the military.
Trump proposed a change during his remarks to reporters on August 25th. “And as you know, we won World War I, we won World War II. We won everything.”
Fox News was the first to report on Trump’s plans to sign the executive order.
A White House summary of the order obtained by USA Today said the lawsuit would restore the “Doctor of War” as a secondary name for the Department of Defense. The order, according to the White House, allows secondary titles such as “The Secretary of War,” “The Secretary of War,” and “The Director of War,” in official communications, public communications, ritual contexts, and unified documents.
All enforcement departments and agencies must recognize and respond to changes to the “war division” of internal and external communications. The order further directs Hegses to recommend legislative and enforcement actions to “rename the US Department of Defense to the US War Bureau forever.”
“Like the president said, we’re not just defense, we’re attacks,” Hegses said in a September 3rd appearance on Fox News. “We are reestablishing the ‘warrior spirit’ in our department. We want warriors who know how to make lethality accurate to their enemies.
The Trump administration has not provided estimates for costs for changes to the government-wide Defense Department’s references to the War Bureau.
The Ministry of War was established in 1789 as the original Cabinet Office overseeing the US Army. Another division of the Navy was created in the same year.
The War Department was dissolved after World War II under the National Security Act of 1947, consolidating the Army and Navy divisions and creating a new air force, jointly known as the National Military Facilities (NME) between President Harry Truman.
The NME was renamed the Department of Defense in 1949. Historians say the name was chosen in part to show that the US was focused on preventing war during the nuclear age.
Ironically, it happens as Trump tried to throw himself as peace manager in several international conflicts, but tried to flex the strength of the US military.
“The restoration of the name “War Bureau” signals the preparation of the enemy, focusing on the national interests of this sector and being prepared for war to ensure the interests of the enemy,” the White House summary of the order states.
Contribution: Reuters
Reach Joey Garrison with X @joeygarrison.
