President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Friday to change the name of the Department of Defense back to its old name: the Department of War, Fox News reported. It’s the name the agency used before 1949, when the United States changed it to the Department of Defense to reflect a broader mission than just warfare.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week that he was going to change the name.
“We call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we’re going to change the name,” Trump said on Aug. 25. “We won the World War I, World War II — it was called the Department of War, and to me, that’s really what it is. Defense is a part of that, but I have a feeling we’re going to be changing.”
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Executive order allows symbolic renaming
According to a White House fact sheet cited by Fox News, the executive order will add “Department of War” as an alternate title for the Department of Defense — not fully renaming it, but allowing that older name to be used alongside the current one. It will allow the use of historic or symbolic titles, such as referring to the Secretary of Defense as the “Secretary of War.”
Permanent name change would require congressional action
The executive order also tasks Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth with the responsibility of coming up with ideas — legislative and executive — that would make the name change to “U.S. Department of War” permanent.
Technically, the president does not have the legal authority to actually rename the department in a binding way. It would take an act of Congress to legally change the name to the Department of War.
Trump has said he believes he can make the change without needing congressional approval, Fox News reported. And if it turns out he does need Congress, he said he’s confident lawmakers will support him anyway.
