🔴 Website 👉 https://u-s-news.com/
Telegram 👉 https://t.me/usnewscom_channel
President Trump floated the idea of renaming the Department of Defense to the ‘Department of War.’
The move would return the Pentagon to its former name before changing it following World War II.
“It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound,” Trump said.
“We won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything,” he continued.
“I don’t want to be defense only,” Trump said.
“We want offense too,” he added.
Check it out:
.@POTUS “Pete, you started off by saying the Department of Defense. Somehow it didn’t sound good to me…
It used to be called the Department of War…” pic.twitter.com/4FeTsrfYwY
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) August 25, 2025
More from POLITICO:
The War Department existed from 1789 until 1947, when the Truman administration split the department into the Army and the Air Force, and joined it with the then-independent Navy. Former President Harry Truman named the new cabinet-level agency the Defense Department.
Truman intended the name change to give the Pentagon chief more centralized powers over separate branches of the military, especially the Navy, which had significant independence through the end of World War II.
Trump has hinted in recent weeks about the possibility of reverting the name back, calling Hegseth his “Secretary of War” at a NATO summit in June and indicating that political correctness forced the switch. “If you look at the old building next to the White House, you can see where it used to be secretary of war,” he said. “Then we became politically correct and they called it secretary of Defense.”
The president suggested the rebranding was imminent. But the Pentagon would likely need any name change approved by Congress since the department was established by a decades-old law.
“I’m drafting a bill to restore the Department of War to its original name—the only name that captures the full range of America’s military capabilities,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said.
I’m drafting a bill to restore the Department of War to its original name—the only name that captures the full range of America’s military capabilitiespic.twitter.com/n1NjoEwBFZ https://t.co/4DeDDQfp3o
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) August 25, 2025
Trump was asked how he intends to change the department’s name.
“We’re just going to do it. I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that,” he said.
“Defense is too defensive. We want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive, too if we have to be,” he added.
Footage below:
Q: “On the Department of War, how do you plan to do that? It requires an act of Congress to rename the Defense Department…”
President Trump: “We’re just going to do it. I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that…Defense is too defensive. We want to be defensive, but we… pic.twitter.com/tfj3jhGVhY
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 25, 2025
Forbes provided additional details:
The shift from the Ministry of War to the Ministry of Defense also followed that of the United States, and the reasons were also similar. First, in most nations, the ministry oversaw just the army, while another ministry oversaw the navy. With the introduction of air forces, all of these branches were rolled into a single ministry, or department, in the case of the United States. This is meant to help address any inter-service rivalries.
The other and more significant change was to the name. After the horrors of the First and Second World Wars, the focus was put on defense, to emphasize that it was protecting the homeland and its people instead of engaging in offensive warfare. It also promotes civilian control over the military.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whom Trump has referred to as the “secretary of war” on a least one occasion, conducted an unscientific poll on X earlier this year, asking if Americans preferred “Department of Defense” to “Department of War,” with 54.3% approving of the old name vs. 45.7% opting for the defense moniker. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk was in favor of the former name, writing, “War is more accurate.”