'I think it sends a message of victory. I think it sends a message of strength,' says US president
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday intended to rename the US Department of Defense to the Department of War, and signaled that he would turn to Congress to make the change official.
"I think it sends a message of victory. I think it sends a message of strength, very strong, much stronger than anyone would really understand," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The US president said he would work with Congress to codify the change, but claimed it is unclear if lawmakers would have to act to make it official. Congress is given the authority under the US Constitution to create, establish and rename federal agencies.
"We're going with it very strongly. There's a question as to whether or not they have to, but we'll put it before Congress," he said.
A copy of Trump's order provided by the White House specifies that the Department of War and associated nomenclature are being established as secondary titles to those officially established by Congress.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom Trump's order bestows the alternative title of war secretary, said the changes are aimed at "restoring" the department's "warrior ethos."
"We changed the name after World War Two from the Department of War to the Department of Defense in 1947 and as you pointed out, Mr. President, we haven't won a major war since, and that's not to disparage our war fighters, whether it's the Korean War, the Vietnam War or our generation of Iraq and Afghanistan," he said alongside Trump.
"The War Department is going to fight decisively, not endless conflicts. It's going to fight to win, not to lose. We're going to go on offense, not just on defense, maximum lethality, not tepid legality, violent effect, not politically correct," he said.
Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Mike Lee introduced legislation Friday in the Senate to make the change official, but it is unclear if it will be able to clear the federal legislature.
"The United States military is not a purely defensive force. We are the most lethal fighting force on the face of the planet — ready to defeat any enemy when called upon. Restoring the name to Department of War reflects our true purpose: to dominate wars, not merely respond after being provoked," Scott said in a statement.
The Department of War was established in 1789, 13 years after the US gained independence. It was renamed under legislation signed by President Harry Truman shortly after the conclusion of World War II, a time when many had hoped for the end of global conflict.
Trump bemoaned a series of wars that the US either lost or ended in stalemate in the ensuing decades, blaming the losses on the name change and "woke" culture.
"We should have won every way. We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct, or wokey, and we just fight forever, and then we, you know, we win, we wouldn't lose, really, we just fight to sort of tie. We never wanted to win wars," he said.
