WASHINGTON, Sept 6: President Donald Trump moved Friday to rebrand the Pentagon, signing an executive order to revive the historic title “Department of War” in place of the “Department of Defense,” a symbolic shift that has stirred both praise and alarm, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
According to the AP, Trump argued that the name “Department of Defense” was too soft and politically correct. He insisted that reverting to “Department of War” would project strength and signal to adversaries that the United States intended to act from a position of dominance. “It sends a message of victory,” Trump told reporters, claiming the new label would restore the military’s fighting spirit.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, now styled by Trump as “Secretary of War,” echoed the president’s remarks, telling the AP that the United States must “go on offense, not just defense” and pursue “maximum lethality.” AP reporters noted that during the signing ceremony, Pentagon staff watched as websites and signs were updated from “defense.gov” to “war.gov.” Trump also promised new stationery to complete the rebranding.
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Congress still must formally authorize any permanent name change. AP said that Trump’s allies in Congress, including Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, quickly introduced legislation to codify the shift. In the House, Florida Republican Greg Steube, an Army veteran, offered a companion bill, calling the revival of the “Department of War” a tribute to U.S. military tradition before 1947.
The AP reported that Trump has long flirted with the idea. He frequently argued that America enjoyed “an unbelievable history of victory” under the Department of War, only to see that record fade once the name was changed by President Harry Truman in 1947 to the Department of Defense. Hegseth went further, telling AP, “We haven’t won a major war since.”
The Associated Press highlighted that Trump’s push fits into a larger pattern of reshaping military culture and rejecting what he brands as “woke ideology.” Under his watch, bases that were renamed to strip Confederate links were retitled after other figures with similar names. Fort Bragg, for example, was reassigned to honor World War II paratrooper Roland L. Bragg, sidestepping a congressional prohibition on restoring Confederate tributes.
Trump and Hegseth have also taken a more aggressive military stance despite the president’s criticism of “endless wars.” AP recalled that Trump frequently boasts of ordering a stealth bomber strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities and authorizing the destruction of a drug-smuggling vessel near Venezuela. Critics have accused him of overstepping legal authority, but Trump insists such actions demonstrate “peace through strength,” a phrase popularized by Ronald Reagan.
At the same time, Trump continues to campaign for recognition as a peacemaker, the AP observed. He has claimed credit for easing tensions between rivals like India and Pakistan and Armenia and Azerbaijan, though he has expressed frustration at the slow pace of diplomacy over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I’ve gotten peace because we’re strong,” he said, attempting to reconcile his pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize with his hard-edged military rhetoric.
When Trump concluded his remarks Friday, he dismissed Secretary Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, saying they should return to the newly styled Department of War “to figure out how to maintain peace.”
According to AP, the executive order marks the most significant symbolic overhaul of the Pentagon’s identity in decades, although its permanence hinges on congressional approval. For now, Trump’s allies are betting that reviving the Department of War brand will resonate with voters who see strength as central to America’s global posture.
