The Pentagon is now the Department of War again after 76 years after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday, saying the name better reflects what America’s military actually does in today’s world.
“I think it’s a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now. We have the strongest military in the world,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office before signing what became his 200th executive order since taking office.
“It has to do with winning. We won the first World War. We won the second World War. We won everything before that and in between,” he said. “And then we decided to go woke, and we changed the name to the Department of Defense. So, we’re going Department of War.”
Under the new directive, the Defense Department gains dual naming authority, allowing officials to choose between traditional “Defense” titles or restored “War” designations in their official capacity. The change applies to internal communications, external correspondence, and public-facing documents throughout the executive branch.
Within hours, the rebranding was already underway. Pentagon staff switched out signs around Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office while tech teams reworked the department website. Visitors to defense.gov now get automatically redirected to war.gov, complete with the new “U.S. Department of War” header.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth/X
Hegseth, who joined the president in the Oval Office, said the name change is “not just about renaming, it’s about restoring.”
“Words matter. It’s restoring, as you’ve gotten us to, Mr. President, restoring the warrior ethos, restoring victory and clarity as an end state, restoring intentionality to the use of force,” said Hegseth. “We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders. So, this War Department, Mr. President, just like America is back.”
The Department of War, established in 1789, led the U.S. to victory in the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II before Congress renamed it the Department of Defense in 1949 as part of military reorganization under President Harry Truman. Trump’s renaming aligns with his broader push against the “woke” movement, as seen in Hegseth’s reversal of Biden’s Confederate base name changes at Fort Bragg and Fort Hood.
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