Order also directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to adopt additional title of ‘Secretary of War’
US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Friday to rename the Department of Defense the “Department of War,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday.
The news about the order was first reported by Fox News.
According to Fox, Trump will sign an executive order to restore the historic title, which was used until 1949 before the agency was reorganized as the Department of Defense under the National Security Act of 1947.
The order calls for using the “Department of War” as a secondary title for the Defense Department and directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to adopt the additional title of “Secretary of War.”
It also instructs Hegseth to propose legislative and executive measures to make the change permanent and calls for updates to Pentagon signage and websites, including renaming the public affairs briefing room the “Pentagon War Annex,” a White House official told Fox.
“Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was the Department of War,” Trump told reporters on Aug. 25.
Hegseth said the move reflects a cultural shift within the department.
“We’re not just defense, we’re offense,” he added.
