Trump Will Rename Defense Department the ‘Department of War’ With Executive Order

Pete Hegseth/Instagram

The White House has confirmed that President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War.

The rebrand, first introduced by Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as part of a broader “warrior ethos” campaign, represents a striking symbolic shift from the post-World War II era, when the War Department was formally re-styled to emphasize defense rather than security.

A White House official, however, confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday that Trump will reinstate the name on Friday, providing a White House fact sheet that will see Hegseth’s title will also change, from Secretary of Defense to Secretary of War.

The last time the United States operated under a Department of War was in 1949.

“Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War,” Trump told reporters last month. “Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”

Hegseth echoed the sentiment in an appearance on Fox News: “We won WWI, and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defense, but with a War Department – with the Department of War. As the president has said, we’re not just defense, we’re offense.”

Since taking on his role, Hegseth has implemented what he calls the “warrior ethos” initiative, ordering a ban on certain books at military bases, renaming the USNS Harvey Milk, and restoring Fort Liberty to its Confederate-era designation, Fort Bragg.

It remains unclear whether Congress will weigh in. Trump, however, was dismissive of any legislative obstacle.

“We’re just going to do it,” he said in the Oval Office last week. “I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that. I don’t think we even need that.”