Published: 7:01am, 6 Sep 2025Updated: 7:10am, 6 Sep 2025
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defence as the Department of War, calling the move a reversion to a time before America went “woke”.
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The shift dovetails with Trump’s bid to project a more aggressive posture for the Pentagon by touting “lethality” and an emphasis on the “warfighter”.
“I think it’s a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now,” Trump said. “We won the first World War. We won the Second World War. We won everything before that and in between. And then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defence.”
According to the order, “Department of War” will be a secondary title for the Department of Defence, with Pete Hegseth being referred to as secretary of war and signs at the Pentagon being replaced, Fox News reported earlier.
It directs Hegseth to seek legislative approval for a formal name change, which would undo a change made in 1949, Fox said.
Trump has leaned upon the US military to support his policy priorities of immigration enforcement and border security, and he has deployed the National Guard in support of his law enforcement surge in Washington.
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