President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Friday rebranding the Department of Defense with its historic name, the “Department of War.” The order authorizes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use the title “Secretary of War” and permits the Pentagon and its officials to employ the new designation as a secondary name.
The move, described in the order as projecting “strength and resolve,” revives the original War Department label first created under George Washington in 1789 and retired in 1947.
While a permanent renaming would require congressional approval, Trump has said he expects lawmakers to back the change.
FIRST ON FOX: President Trump will sign an executive order Friday to alter the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War — reverting to the agency’s former namesake, FOX News Digital has learned. Defense Secretary @PeteHegseth will also be referred to as the… pic.twitter.com/3NysjrwyMD
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 4, 2025
The White House has not released cost estimates, though analysts predict a billion-dollar price tag to rebrand agencies, uniforms, and emblems.
Trump has argued that the new name reflects America’s “unbelievable history of victory” and counters what he calls the Pentagon’s drift toward “woke ideology.”
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TIPP Staff
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